Waste not, want not!

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So after removing the pheasant I mentioned in my last post, I flung it into the bushes thinking a visiting fox would probably appreciate it. But then I started thinking.... Well, I like pheasant, And this one certainly doesn’t contain any lead shot! And we know it was fit and healthy, And we know exactly when it died. I’m not in the habit of eating roadkill because you never know how long an animal has been dead or whether it was sick beforehand. And when one of our chickens dies it almost certainly had something wrong with it. So we’ve never eaten any of those. But you know, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade and all that... I scrambled into the bushes and pulled the pheasant out again! I decided I would leave it to hang for a couple of days, and then if I decided not to use it I could just leave it out for the fox and lose nothing. So I hung it up in our garage (which for some inexplicable reason is always cold, even in summer!) The weekend was busy, but on Monday morning I decided I had to do something. After a fortifying cup of coffee and an educational video from Leith’s School of Cookery I retrieved the pheasant and managed to pluck and prepare it as instructed. (I’ve gutted fish before but that’s as far as my animal-preparation skills went). And to cut a long story slightly shorter I combined two recipes and turned it into a pot roast with root vegetables and herbs, cream and grapes (yes I managed to get some grapes in there again!) and it was delicious! With some mashed potatoes and peas it made a dinner for the four of us, plus dinner for me twice more while I was away, and after that there was still a reasonable amount of meat left over so I made risotto and we ate that for two more evenings. So it made 14 portions altogether! And the added benefit was that I feel somehow slightly more empowered, knowing that I have the skills to prepare a bird like this. I won’t ever be reliant on a meal delivery service! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.