From roadside to a delicious dish!
I am not a hunter or a gamekeeper, but I grew up on a farm. Today, I unintentionally made a Gamekeeper's Pie with pheasant, a popular game bird known for its lean and flavorful meat, tasted for the first time.
Game meats have historically played a significant role in British culinary culture. Those with access to game-rich areas have been creating these flavorful meals with these meats for centuries.
So here's how it happened this Saturday: we were driving towards Oxford, and the two cars ahead of us hit a couple of pheasants, a male and a female. All I could say was a scream, "Ohhh nooo!" as the birds flew to the side of the road.
We stopped and checked; they were dead, and we could not do anything to help them. Knowing that they were fresh and had good meat, I hesitantly picked up the two floppy, lifeless birds courageously and stuck them in the boot of the car.
Back home, I thought this would be hard work to pluck them. Trying to remember how my parents, 30 years ago, plucked the chicken every weekend to make a hearty meal, which is by dipping them in hot water, the feathers easily come off! Then cleaning them, removing the contents in the viscera. Good thing I am not squeamish.
After they were all nicely cleaned, I chopped them into pieces and boiled them in hot water with salt and lemon for 10 minutes.
I drained and separated the meat from the bones! I got a kg of beautiful game meat. Now thinking, what to cook?
After searching, I found the recipe from BBC Good Food recipe]. Lucky to have all the ingredients in my cupboard except the venison sausage, but the amount of meat I have will make up for it. The recipe is calling for red wine; I have homemade elderberry wine that is waiting for it.
It is a very simple recipe. I sautéed the garlic and onion until brown and added the meat. I added a bit of salt (not in the recipe).
Then I added the flour, tomato puree, stocks, thyme, bay leaf and my homemade elderberry wine!
While waiting for the meat to become tender and the sauce to reduce down. I boiled all the root crops, suede, and potatoes. When cooked, I mashed the with butter and salt.
Then I transferred the game filling to the baking tray and covered it with the mashed root crops.
I scored it with the tip of the fork.
Placed in the oven until it turns golden.
Pleased to have created a hearty meal from scratch that was delicious and amazingly tasty! We all stuffed ourselves, and we all enjoyed it.
The elderberry wine paired really well, adding a touch of tang and sweetness, creating balance and a harmonious blend with the richness of the pheasant meat.
Would I pick up a roadkill pheasant again? 🙄
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!
Mariah 😊