Pheasant Kiev with Cilantro Lime butter

Jeff Davis | https://gundogcentral.com | All Hunting Articles
Posted 05/20/2020




Next year I'll turn 50 years old, my body is starting to ache every morning, my joints hurt and I'm starting to put on a little weight. I thought I needed to find a good way to get some exercise, working on a computer all day doesn't afford me a lot of exercise during the day, so a few years ago, I started taking Karate. I didn't like it at first, never thought I would have stuck with it this long, but with any luck, this time next year, I might be eligible to test for my black belt, assuming the coronavirus doesn't get me first. Recently I had to take a test for my second-degree brown belt, which I passed! Afterward, some of us decided to go eat at a local restaurant. However, the restaurant we wanted to go to was packed and the wait time would have been over 45 minutes ... we decided to go to another restaurant across the street. While we were there, my fellow classmate, already a black belt, ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu from the menu. Once his plate arrived, I don't think he was very impressed with his meal and made a comment about how he wished it was "That chicken that squirts butter out when you cut into it". At the time, he couldn't remember the name of it, but eventually it came to him, he called it "de Volaille". Hes Polish, sometimes it can be difficult to understand what hes saying and I wasn't sure I understood him right, but I had certainly never heard of it before, so I had to look it up. Turns out ... what he was referring to was also known as Chicken Kiev. He didn't realize then, but he had just planted the idea for the next two recipes I'd post on Gundog Central. A Pheasant Cordon Bleu, that he would not have been disappointed with, which I posted a few weeks ago, and this Mexican spin on a classic Chicken Kiev made with Pheasant.

Initially, my friend couldn't remember the name of this Russian / Ukrainian dish, but it did come to him before dinner was over. My friend is Polish and grew up in Poland, next door to Ukraine. When he called this dish De Volaille, which it is how it's most commonly referred to in Ukraine, I had no idea what he was talking about. He made it sound so good though, I immediately came home and started researching how it was made. Turns out De Volaille, or Chicken Kiev ( as I knew it ) was created by a Russian Chef studying French Cuisine. I took a lot of notes on my phone and continually wrote down ideas on how I could recreate this and sort of make it my own. I swear I changed my mind a hundred times, but this is what I eventually came up with, a sort of a Mexican-Ukrainian fusion dish.

Traditional Chicken Kiev, is breast meat pounded flat with a dab of herbed butter placed in the center and folded up into a ball or rolled up into a log, so that the butter is sealed inside. It's then usually breaded on the outside and deep fried for a few minutes, then moved to the oven to finish. Once it's done, when you cut into it, flavored butter spurts out everywhere. The butter inside helps keep the meat moist and flavorful. I decided to put a Mexican twist on this dish, was Chili and Lime infused Panko breadcrumbs, Cilantro Lime butter, Mexican Rice with White Queso, Salsa Verde and a Jalapeno Cilantro Moscow Mule. You can use whatever flavors you like, but around here, we eat a lot of Mexican food. The little town we live in only has about 4500 people living in it, but there are at least three Mexican restaurants. Generally, after Karate class on Thursday night, a bunch of us will go to the Mexican restaurant to eat, it seemed only fitting that since karate class was the inspiration for this recipe that I include a Mexican twist. This recipe might seem difficult at first glance, but it's actually well worth the time. Don't be afraid to substitute whatever flavors are appealing to you, along with whatever sides you would prefer. This was my first attempt at making this dish and we were all very happy with the way it turned out. Hope you enjoy.
 


About the Author : Jeff Davis
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You 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.

 
 

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