Pheasant Cacciatore with Creamy Polenta
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Im not a chef, nor have I ever claimed to be one, but I do enjoy cooking and so does my wife. When we were dating, one of the first dishes I cooked for her was a Chicken Cacciatore with some homemade French Bread. She married me, so it probably wasnt all that bad, right?! Over the years, weve cooked a lot of meals together, you can find plenty of photos of the food we prepared on our social media feeds. In fact, we have a small food blog, #wecooktogether, were well post some recipes we liked or prepared. Weve created a lot of themed meals based on shows like Game of Thrones, Lord of Rings, Shark Week and the NFL Playoffs. Id been wanting to recreate that Cacciatore recipe for a while now, kind of a nod to that first pre marriage meal. When I got a hold of these Wild Ramps, I immediately knew I wanted to used them to re-create that meal. I had been wanted to do a foraging / hunter style dishes and Cacciatore was the first thing that came to mind. Cacciatore literally translates to Hunter in Italian and usually consist of poultry braised in onions, garlic, tomatoes and wine, with some additional seasonings. As Wild Ramps are in the same family of vegetables as Onions and Garlic, I thought I could use some of the Ramps bulbs as a replacement to some of those other ingredients. Mushrooms are another popular forage item and while they might not be in a traditional Cacciatore dish, Im adding them here cause I want to.
As a not chef, I often times make mistakes in my recipes or I might not like the way that I did something. While I wouldnt post anything on the site that I didnt personally enjoy, sometimes Ill go back and remake things, making a second or third version of a recipe to correct minor errors I found in my process. A while back I posted a Spicy Pheasant Shakshuka, while the recipe was very good and everyone enjoyed it, in Shakshuka, you traditionally poach the protein, which is usually eggs. While I was planning this recipe, I realized that I hadnt actually poached my Pheasant, what I did was more like the braise I wanted to use on this Cacciatore. So ... the night I decided to cook this recipe, I also decided to remake my Spicy Pheasant Shakshuka, at the same time, only this time actually poaching the Pheasant in the sauce. These two dishes have a lot of similarities, they are both proteins cooked in a tomato type sauce, with the Shakshuka having the addition of Red Peppers. I used four Pheasant breasts in the Cacciatore and 4 Pheasant breasts in my newly adjusted Shakshuka recipe ... all of it got eaten that night, absolutely no leftovers. Actually, I take that back, there was sauce left from the two dishes, which we ended up putting in a food processor to combine, then used the next night as a killer pasta sauce. You can make this with out the Wild Ramps, just use Garlic Cloves instead.
Ingredients
Pheasant Cacciatore
Polenta
Classic French Bread
Instructions
Step #1 Heat 1 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons for olive oil in skillet on medium high heat.
Step #2 Prepare your ingredients by dicing up mushrooms, carrots, shallots and wild ramps.
Step #3 While skillet is getting hot remove skin from Pheasant Breast and generously Salt and Pepper both sides.
Step #4 Dredge through All Purpose Flour, coating both sides. Shake to remove excess.
Step #5 Place Pheasant in hot oil and cook about 2-3 minutes per side. Just long enough to brown each side.
Step #6 Remove to wire rack to rest.
Step #7 Add diced Wild Ramps Bulbs, Shallots and Mushrooms. Season with Salt and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes.
Step #8 Add 1 cup of Red Wine and 1/2 Cup of Pheasant Stock, bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.
Step #9 Add Thyme and Oregano and let simmer until liquid is reduced by half.
Step #10 Add diced up Carrots and let cook for a few more minutes. The bigger your carrots, the longer they'll take to get soft.
Step #11 Add can of Crushed Tomatoes, Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Tomato Paste. Stir to combine, allow to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Step #12 Add Pheasant Breast back to sauce, cover and simmer on stove top for an additional 20 minutes or so, or until the Pheasant reaches an internal temperature of about 165 degrees.
Step #13 Garnish with diced up Wild Ramp Leaves, Red Pepper Flakes and Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
Creamy Polenta
Step #1 Bring pot of Pheasant Stock to a boil on high heat.
Step #2 Reduce heat to low, add 1 cup of Polenta or Corn Meal to stock. Whisk continuously, for a few minutes, until it starts to thicken.
Step #3 Cover and cook until thickened, 15 to 25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Removed from heat and whisk in butter and cheese.
French Bread
Step #1 In large bowl, mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, 1 cup warm water and oil. Combine with spatula.
Step #2 On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
Step #3 Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place your dough inside the bowl. Allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place until its just about doubled in size.
Step #4 Punch the dough down and divide in half. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to get loaf shape, tucking edges to create smooth shape.
Step #5 Place loaves on cooking sheet dusted with corn meal. Cut slits in the top of the loaves with s sharp knife. Set in a warm place to rise for another hour to two.
Step #6 Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix egg white with 1 tablespoon of cold water and brush it all over the loaves. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool.
Step #7 Enjoy.
Recipe Card
Pheasant Cacciatore with Creamy Polenta
Ingredients
Pheasant Cacciatore
Polenta
Classic French Bread
Instructions
Creamy Polenta
French Bread
About the Author
Jeff Davis
Visit authors websiteYou may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.
