Pot-roasted pheasant

Dinner with 16 ingredients.

Servings: 4

Total time: 140 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 bay leaves
• 200 millilitre chicken stock
• 2 pheasants tied (ask your butcher to do this)
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 50 millilitre vegetable oil
• 2 rashers smoked streaky bacon thinly sliced
• 1 thyme sprig
• bread sauce, to serve
• 1 tablespoon plain flour well seasoned
• 8 shallots peeled and left whole
• 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
• 2 carrots peeled and quartered lengthways
• 100 millilitre marsala or sweet sherry
• 1 marjoram sprig
• 50 millilitre red wine
• 2 parsnips peeled and quartered lengthways

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Dust the pheasants with the flour, then heat the oil in a large flameproof dish. Brown the pheasants all over, then remove from the dish.
2. In the same dish, fry the bacon, vegetables, garlic and herbs with 1 tbsp of the dusting flour for 5 mins, until the vegetables start to colour. Put the pheasants and any resting juices back in the dish, pour on the Marsala, wine and stock, add the sugar, then cover and cook for 1 hr 30 mins - 1 hr 50 mins or until the leg meat easily comes away from the bone. Serve with bread sauce.