Pleasant Pheasant

So this one time I went hunting and shot some pheasants and quail. Having done this often while growing up I was excited to show my new wife how to dress these birds. I have a picture somewhere of them laying on newspaper in the front room of our apartment. Needless to say Mrs. Mc was not all that impressed with the procedure. She didn't really want to eat any of them after seeing me skin and gut them. One would think this would put Mrs. Mc off game birds entirely for the rest of her life, but being the creative genius I am I have figured out a way to make Pheasant pleasant to her palate.

You will need some pheasant, diced up into about 1/2" cubes or smaller, a sheet of puff pastry and some carrots, onions, celery, cooked rice, diced apple and spices. The process is quite simple. Make a mirepoix with the carrots, onions and celery and sweat until the onions are clear and translucent. Then add the apple and cook for a few minutes. Add in the pheasant and cook until the pheasant is done, usually only takes a few minutes, its rather lean and the pieces are small.

Once you are happy with the doneness of the bird I add the spices. I use cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, salt, garlic powder in varying combinations until it tastes good. It should be sweet but also savory. Think pumpkin pie and all the good fall crunchy leaves under foot flavors you can imagine and you will get the idea. Finally toss in the rice and mix it all together. This is the filler. It can be eaten alone but adding it to the pastry makes it even better.

Next put your sheet of puff pasty on a baking sheet and cut it in half width wise. This should give you pieces like the ones in the photo. Then you simply fill your pieces and carefully roll them up with the seem at the bottom. Bake these on about 400 until they puff. Cut them up and eat them. It makes a very nice dish and it looks pretty too.