Pheasants

Roast Pheasant with cabbage and bacon

2 whole plucked pheasants

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 celery stick, coarsely chopped

a few thyme sprigs

1 apple halved

100 ml olive oil

1 savoy cabbage

150 g pancetta or bacon cut into lardons

100g shitake mushrooms, chopped

100ml chicken stock

2 tbsp butter plus a knob to serve

handful of fresh flat leafed parsley leaves

1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees celcius
2. Season the birds inside and out with salt
3. Put onion and celery in large baking dish
4. Put apples in birds' cavities, rub with olive oil
5. Lay birds on top of onion and celery
6. Roast for 15 minutes
7. Remove from oven, turn oven down to 160 degrees
8. Add birds back to oven when temperature is reached
9. Cook birds for another 30 minutes, basting regularly, keep testing the temperature, the temp must reach 62-65 degrees (you may need to turn the birds to evenly cook them, rest covered for 10 minutes
10. For the last 15 minutes of cooking, heat a large saucepan of water until boiling, add thinly sliced cabbage, blanch, drain and add to a bowl of iced water, when cool, drain again
11. Heat oil in fry pan, add pancetta/bacon and fry for a couple of minutes
12. Add mushrooms, cook until pancetta/bacon is starting to crisp
13. Scoop out mushrooms and pancetta/bacon, add cabbage and stock to pan, cook until liquid is reduced, add mushrooms and pancetta/bacon
14. Warm through
15. Add cabbage mixture to a large serving dish, add pheasant meat to top, garnish with parsley

(Put bones and any left over meat into a slow cooker, cover with water and cook for 8 hours, makes a fabulous base for soup, see soup page)