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Buffalo Pheasant Mac and Cheese
This is one of my favorite ‘in-a-pinch’ meals to make. It doesn’t take the long to make, it’s super filling and tasty. If you like spicy food, you’ll love this Buffalo Mac and Cheese.
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Cajun Pheasant Pasta
On a recent trip to Barksdale Air Force Base, in Louisiana, to see the Thunderbirds perform during an Air Show, we stopped at the local Walmart, and I bought two huge containers of Crawfish Boil. I have no idea why I bought so much of it; it’s not like we cook a lot of crawfish back in Tennessee. I think it’s been over a year now, and I’ve only used about ¼ of one of the containers, and that was on a low country shrimp boil. I’ve been trying to work this seasoning into more recipes so doesn’t go to waste.
Pheasant and Homemade Noodles
My cousins-in-law, Keith and Jo Ann Brown, are the epitome of the old-school, American home cook. Although in their 80s, they still host the extended family on major holidays, whipping out classics like they could do in their sleep. Here’s a recipe inspired by one of those visits: pheasant with homemade egg noodles. The gravy is to die for, and if you’re a true Midwesterner, you’d eat this over mashed potatoes. Because starch on starch is just how people roll out here.
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Pheasant Rice Bowl
One of our favorite lunch destinations is a local Mexican restaurant called Tulum’s, located in Jackson TN. We can prepay for our food, which is great when your limited on time and need to get back to the office in a hurry. I typically get a taco or chimichanga, but recently discovered these edible rice bowls they serve. You can get them with your choice of meats, Chicken, Steak or Shrimp, as well as a ton of extra add-ons.
Dove and Sunflower Seed Hummus on Toast
If you’re looking to try something else with dove breasts outside of poppers, here’s one way to enjoy the breasts: quickly seared and served on toast with homemade sunflower seed hummus, spicy radish and creamy goat cheese. Not only does this dish look appetizing to eat on a warm, late-summer day, it’s also easy to pull together. You could prepare the hummus and cook the dove ahead of time and serve cold.
Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Saucy Pheasant Nuggs
I have three big blueberry bushes in my backyard that start crank out blueberries in late May, early June. I’ve easily collected 5 gallons of berries from these bushes. I’ve made jelly, cobblers and pies, and added them to my morning oatmeal. I have so many berries, that I’ve been trying to find new uses for them. A few weeks ago, I made a Blueberry Bourbon BBQ sauce and some smoked spareribs, I liked the sauce so much, I decided to use it in this recipe, with some slight modifications.
Grilled Quail and Charred Grapes
Quail are the perfect wild game for throwing over the barbecue – their natural tenderness and fattiness prevents them from getting overly dry. Serve these quail and charred grapes with other finger foods, such as olives, nuts, crostini with goat cheese, stuffed mushrooms, etc.
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Quail with Saffron Couscous
If you’re handy in the kitchen, this quail and saffron couscous recipe will take you no more than 30 minutes to have dinner ready on the table.
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Apricot Duck Stew with Polenta
Slow simmered in red wine, chipotle pepper and apricot preserves, you will be pleasantly surprised by this duck stew’s sweet and spicy flavor. It is delicious over creamy, cheesy polenta – a stick-to-your ribs meal for any occasion.
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Pheasant Tortilla Soup
I used to live in Southern California, and one of my favorite places to eat was a burger joint called Islands. Although they had amazing burgers, my favorite item on Islands’ menu was the chicken tortilla soup. The contrasting textures, flavors and colors in the soup were perfect.
Smoked Duck Quesadilla with Pomegranate Sauce
I have been working remote for the past few years, but they recently called us back to the office. While it sucks going to work every day, I do look forward to all the places we go for lunch. One of the places we recently discovered makes this Smoked Duck Quesadilla’s with a Raspberry Sauce. I’ve had it a few times and it’s exceptional. When I was thinking of meals I could cook for Christmas, this Smoked Duck came to mind, but instead of a Raspberry sauce, I decided to do a pomegranate sauce in an attempt to make it more Christmassy.
Deep Fried Pheasant with Smoked Maple Bourbon Sweet Potatoes and Cornbread Stuffing
Knowing we were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving and with daylights saving time in full effect, it felt like we had a lot more extra time to spend trapped in the house. As our day dragged on, we decided to cook this adhoc Pre-Thanksgiving dinner to two. We made this deep fried, Cajun injected split pheasant, homemade sage stuffing, cranberries relish with orange zest and some smoked maple bourbon sweet potatoes with bacon.
Duck and Mango Tacos
Sweet and tangy mango salsa pairs well with the dark, rich flavor of waterfowl.
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Hot Pheasant Tamalas
It seems every year I get a little overzealous with my pepper planting. I end up with a ton of hot peppers in the garden, way more than I could ever use. I’ve been struggling to come up with ways to use them all. I’ve been adding peppers to breakfast eggs each morning, but that only uses so many of them. I’ve made crushed dried peppers by dehydrating them, then adding them to a coffee grinder. I’ve recently started making my own hot sauce, I’ve made Jalapeno hot sauce, serrano hot sauce, Cayenne hot sauce, Habanero hot sauce and kind of a pepper medley that just a bunch of different peppers fermented together. I have so much hot sauce, I’ve been adding it to pretty much everything. I just can’t use it fast enough. Here is one of the recipes I made to help me deal with my pepper surplus. Hot Pheasant Tamales!!
Dove and Dates
Here’s a new take on an old classic: bacon-wrapped dove poppers with sweet dates and crunchy cashews. You’ll appreciate the contrast of sweet and salty, and soft and crunchy.
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Sage-stuffed Quail
To stuff quail, I recommend deboning them, which will make them easier to eat. Jacques Pépin has a helpful video on deboning quail on YouTube, although I kept the leg bones intact. This preparation will tack on more prep time, and can be quite tedious. If you go this route, debone quail before you start anything else – the day before, even. Otherwise, cook quail and the stuffing separately.
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Dove and Shoestring Fries
For a first-time hunt, doves make for tough initiation. Although the dove symbolizes peace, don’t mistake that for frailty. These fast-flying birds can change direction on a dime, seemingly possessing a Matrix-like ability to dodge shot. And just when you think you’ve hit one, it keeps on sailing.
Barbecued Peach-Jalapeno Quail
With peaches and warm weather in season, this sweet and spicy barbecued quail recipe is one to try this summer – along with a cold glass of sangria.
Pheasant Bird Dog with Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce
Have you seen these `Bird Dawgs` that Buffalo Wild Wings sells? It’s basically a chicken strip on a hot dog bun, with BBQ or Buffalo sauce, Cole Slaw and Green Onions. I got a few the other day for lunch smothered in Buffalo sauce, pictured below, however they left the Slaw and Onions off mine. I was looking for something to do with the left-over KC BBQ sauce I made in my last recipe post and decided to attempt to do my own version of BWWs `Bird Dawg` style sandwich. This is my Pheasant Bird Dog with Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce.
Smoked Duck over Oven Baked Fries with KC BBQ Sauce
Every year my wife and I try to cook a themed meal for the Super Bowl. Most of the time will look at the teams involved and try to use food both cities are known for, then try to fuse them together. This year it was the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs playing against each other. Since I used to live around KC, I was pulling for the Chiefs this year, but thought the Eagles were probably the stronger team. I decided to do this Smoked Duck with Duck Fat French Fries drizzled with a Kansas City style bar-b-que sauce. While the Smoked Duck doesn’t really have anything to do with Philadelphia, the bird is supposed to represent an Eagle, or a smoked eagle in this case. This just symbolic since the team’s mascot is a bird.
Scarpariello Pheasant with Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I was looking to use some leftover ingredients in the refrigerator and decided on making this Scarpariello Pheasant served over Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Scarpariello translates to shoemaker style, supposedly even a poor Italian shoemaker family could afford to make this meal. There isn’t much to it, it cooks in a single skillet, it’s quick and easy to make. This dish is basically pheasant breast braised in a liquid with Italian sausage, peppers and onions. I’ve made this before and haven’t been impressed with the results, but this time it turned out amazing! I tried to amp up the heat by adding Jalapenos and crushed red peppers, but if you’re not into heat you can leave them out. I served mine over garlic mashed potatoes, but you can also serve with pasta, polenta, or even grits.
Duck Nachos
Nachos is a meal all by itself. Loaded with cheese, beans, meat and fresh veggies, it’s the perfect bite for a quiet night in, comfy sweats and a favorite movie. And if you have the time, don’t just serve any nachos. This one is topped with tender duck meat and cotija, a crumbly hard Mexican cheese for a bit of salt and funk. Make sure to keep plenty of ice-cold beer on hand.
Smoked Turkey Cajun Gumbo
This is one of my go-to recipes that I make all the time, so when I was looking for stuff to make with my left-over smoked turkey, this recipe was a no brainer. It’s simple to make and the results are always delicious, I promise you won’t need to worry about leftovers here. I made my own turkey stock to use with this recipe, but you can use chicken stock to save time. My wife said she hoped I wrote down how I made this because it was the best gumbo she’s had. Of course, she’s not from Louisiana, so I don’t know if you can trust her judgement, but she is a cook.
Smoked Turkey Enchilada Casserole
This is a Smoked Turkey Enchilada Casserole I made with left over Thanksgiving Turkey. You can make this with either a red or green salsa, or both if you want to make a Christmas Edition. I’ve made it both ways, I really liked it with both red and green salsa, I’m including some brief notes below on how I made mine, but these instructions will focus on using the green Salsa Verde. I’ve made this several times, it’s particularly good in the morning with a fresh fried egg served on top of it. I prefer the corn tortillas in this recipe because they fall apart more easily, making it easier to scoop out and serve. The flour tortillas hold up better but will need to be cut before serving. I think the flour tortillas would be better for traditional enchiladas, where they are rolled up with the Turkey and filling inside.
Leftover Smoked Turkey Pot Pie
Left-over Turkey is one of my favorite meals and I can’t get enough it during the holiday season. I’ll cook extra turkey’s each year, just to make sure I have plenty of leftover meat. This year is no different, the weekend after Thanksgiving, I smoked two more birds in my backyard smoker. So far, I’ve made Smoked Turkey Gumbo, Turkey Enchiladas Casserole, Turkey Quesadillas and Turkey BQQ Sandwich, plus this Turkey Pot Pie. I might try to post all these recipes, but I didn’t take a lot of pictures. These were all pretty quick meals to prepare and don’t take a ton of ingredients.
Vietnamese Poached Pheasant with Ginger-Garlic Rice
Vietnamese chicken and rice is comfort food. It is traditionally prepared with a whole broiler chicken thats gently poached until just cooked through and tender. The poaching liquid is then used to cook the rice, which is then fried with rendered chicken fat, lots of ginger and garlic. This dish will make your house smell amazing.
Extra Spicy General Tso Pheasant
I think there are basically two types of restaurants you can find in just about every descent sized town in America, Mexican and Chinese. Unless of course, you live in Tennessee, then its Mexican, Chinese and BBQ. I know my family and me eat our share of both Mexican and Chinese food. My favorite Chinese dish, hands down... General Tso Chicken. I thought this would be a fun recipe to try at home, so this is my attempt at Extra Spicy General Tso Pheasant.
Pheasant Spaghetti with Whole Wheat Pasta
I planted a bunch of Brandywine tomatoes this year, along with an equal number of San Marzano tomatoes. My Brandywine tomatoes didn't do so hot, maybe it was the extreme heat we had all summer or the lack of rain. They looked healthily starting out and I was hopeful they'd produce a good crop, but when we finally did get rain, they basically exploded on the vine. Their skin started to form cracks all over, the whole lot of them just looked gross and unsightly. My San Marzano tomatoes on the other hand actually did great, a side from being a little undersized and a few developing blossom rot.
Spicy Pheasant Sandwich with Paprika Butter Sauce
I planted a bunch of cucumbers in my garden this year. I planted them, and they died, so I planted them again. Those also died, I believe it was my sixth attempt before I got any plants that survived long enough to be put into the ground. I'm not sure why they kept dying, but I started them early, moving them from inside the house to outside on warm sunny days, to back indoors to avoid the cool nights. Maybe it was the shock of going from inside to outside, over and over that killed them, or perhaps I just overwatered them. All this to say, I ended up with a truckload of really nice cucumbers. I had so many that I had to give a bunch of them away, but what I kept, I made into spicy pickles. Those spicy pickles are really the reason I decided to do this recipe, plus the fact that I had some left-over Brioche Buns from the previous recipe. I've always heard that Chick-Fil-A marinades their chicken in pickles juice, and they also serve pickles on their sandwich, so this fillet sandwiched seemed like a good recipe to try, as it let me use my spicy pickles two ways. Sometimes at work, they cater to Chick-Fil-A and it always seems like a treat. I personally like the spicy sandwich and wanted to create my own home version. This isn't meant to be a copy of their recipe, it was only used for inspiration. This is my Spicy Pheasant Fillet Sandwich with a Paprika Butter Sauce.
Blueberry Bacon Pheasant Burger with Jalapeno Fries
I have four gorgeous, healthily blueberry bushes in my backyard. Each one seems to be a different variety because they all put on blueberries at different times. I've picked a ton of these berries this year, it was a continuous supply of berries from June to July. I froze a bunch of them, and I've been throwing a handful in my oatmeal each morning ... but I wanted to do something else with them, so I decided to try to make some blueberry jelly. It can be messy, and draining the berries takes a while, but it's totally worth it. I also had a bumper crop of Jalapeño's this year, so I sliced some of them up and added them to the berries while I was cooking them down, just to give it a little spicy kick.
Pheasant Helper with Roasted Sun Sugar Tomato Sauce
Growing up, mom cooked a lot of Hamburger Helper. It was quick, it was easy, and it was cheap. When you're feeding a bunch of picky kids, it's something everyone would eat. I remember always going back for seconds and thirds, and still not getting enough. Admittedly, I haven't had Hamburger Helper in the past 10 - 15 years, but if you sat it down in front of me today, I promise you I'd eat every bit of it. Cheeseburger Macaroni and Beef Stroganoff were the absolute best. It's not fine dining, I know, but give me some Hamburger Helper and a slice of crusty bread ... and I'd be one happy camper. For this recipe, I wanted to pay homage to that classic Hamburger Helper, single pot type meal. This is what I came up with Pheasant Helper with Roasted Sun Sugar Tomato Sauce.
Brown-Sugar Glazed Dove Poppers
Dove poppers are celebratory, like a hurrah to the beginning of hunting season. Here's how I like them: The breasts marinated for extra flavor and a little bit of sweetness to glaze onto the bacon. Also, don't make the mistake of using expensive, thick-cut bacon, which takes too long to cook. The thin, cheap, fatty stuff will work just fine.
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Braised Duck & Beans
This bean dish hits the spot in winter. It's also an opportunity for hunters to save and eat duck legs, which are too good to leave to the coyotes.
Middle Eastern Partridge Pizza
This Middle Eastern Pizza is the fifth and last gamebird related pizza I'll be posting for the month of July. Instead of a traditional tomato-based pizza sauce, I'm using Hummus, which is a dip made from Chickpeas. While I'm using Sumac to season my Hummus, Sabra sells a spicy hummus which would also be good in this recipe. I'm including instructions on how to make your own Hummus, but using a store bought brand will be a big time saver.
Mediterranean Partridge Pizza
This is pizza four of the five gamebird related pizzas I was planned to post the month of July. I'm calling it a Mediterranean Partridge Pizza. While I was discussing ideas with my wife about how I wanted to build this pizza, she kind of turned her nose up at it, saying that it was a lot of bold competing flavors. She works at a local pizza shop, so I wasn't sure how this one would turn out but decided to forge ahead with my plan ... and to be honest, of the five pizzas I'm posting this month... this one ended up being my second favorite. Something about this pizza just makes you want to go back for another bite, even my wife wanted more of this pizza.
Southwestern Chukar Pizza
This is pizza number three of my summer pizza blowout. I'm calling it a Southwestern Chukar Pizza; it's loaded with Black Beans, Corn, Jalapeno, Red Onions, and Roasted Chukar. Instead of a traditional pizza sauce, I'm using a spicy little bean dip. The recipe I'm including is for doing one 12-inch pizza, with a thick crust. You could roll this dough out thinner if you wanted to do a larger, thin crust pizza, but our pizza oven is only big enough for these small pizzas.
Buffalo Pheasant Pizza
This is my homemade Buffalo Pheasant Pizza, pizza number two of my summer of pizza extravaganza, where every Saturday in the month of July, I'll try to post another gamebird-focused pizza recipe that we made here at home.
Quail, Sage, and Mushroom Pizza
The wife and I do a fair amount of cooking at home, so it's not unusual that I'd get her something for the kitchen as a gift. Last Christmas, I got her a small outdoor pizza oven ... and we've been using the fire out of it. Coincidentally, she was working as a nurse at the time but now works for a local pizza shop. While she likes to cook the traditional Margherita Pizza, which consists of Mozzarella Cheese, Basil, Olive Oil, and Tomatoes, I want to experiment a little. The next few recipes I post will be a few of my experiments. I thought they all turned out pretty good, but this Quail, Sage, and Mushroom Pizza is my favorite. Not just my favorite from this batch of pizzas, but one of my all-time favorites.
Tea-smoked Canada Goose
If you're looking to make an impression at the dinner table, this recipe is it: The flavors and aromas in this tea-smoked goose breast are by no means shy. Sichuan peppercorns impart a juniper berry-like flavor, while tea leaves, star anise and rice are gently toasted to create a smoke that's almost intoxicating. The better news is this dish is fairly simple to make—the most difficult part might be tracking down dried Sichuan peppercorns, also called prickly ash.
Pheasant Parmesan
Im pretty sure this was the 2nd or 3rd meal I cooked for my wife when we were dating. Shes got a birthday coming up, so Im posting this in honor of her. We like to go out and eat as much as the next person, but often times when we were dating, wed just stay home and cook together instead of going out. In fact, we collected all the meals we cooked together that first year and created a cookbook that we gave to friends and family. I think we called the book #wecooktogether, meals from our first year. We actually still refer to that cookbook a lot!!
Pheasant Lasagna
I had enough ingredients left over from the Pheasant Manicotti recipe that I recently did, that I decided to repurpose the leftover ingredients to make this Pheasant Lasagna. Truth be known, I still had enough ingredients after this recipe to still do another recipe after this one. I don't have the best method for shopping for ingredients, I tend to just put stuff in the cart that I think I might need or would want to incorporate, usually this means I end up over buying and spending a bunch of money. Most of the times when I go shopping for ingredients, I only have an idea of what I want to make, I don't really have a shopping list, just some rough ideas. It would probably be cheaper if I'd prepare a little before I go shopping, instead as I'm walking down the isles looking for ingredient, if I see something that interest me, I generally just put it in the cart. I may see something else on another isle that makes me want to go a different direction or even cook something totally different. I just end up buying all the ingredients in my cart, never putting anything back. Needless to say, my pantry is stocked!
Pheasant Manicotti
This recipe originally started out as Stuffed Shells, the only thing I was missing were the shells!! I had gone to the local Walmart to pick some up and the whole pasta/noodle isle was pretty much empty, along with most of the other isles. I decided I'd try Kroger in Corinth Mississippi, I hit their pasta isle and while they did have more pasta than Walmart, they didn't have any large shells either. Next ... I tried the Kroger in Savannah Tennessee, still no large shells! Food Giant, Piggy Wiggly ... no shells, no shells. Everybody is out of everything! Knowing that I had everything else I needed at home, I just need to find some large shells. I was ready to give up and thinking it just wasn't meant to be when I saw some Manicotti noodles at Piggy Wiggly and decided to just use those instead. So this is now Pheasant Manicotti!!
Pheasant Pozole Verda
For some reason, I tend to do a lot of these recipes in pairs. I don't know why, just happy accidents or poor planning on my part. It seems I just can't make up my mind sometimes. I'll usually have a particular ingredient in mind that I want to use, most of the time from my garden, and I'll come with several different ways I want to use it. I had recently made some Green Enchiladas with a homemade Green Enchiladas Sauce and Salsa Verde. I had used all my Green Enchiladas Sauce but had plenty of Salsa Verde left over, which isn't an issue as I have no problem eating Salsa Verde by itself, but I was wondering what else I could do with it. I decided to make this Pozole de Faisan con Chile Verde or Pheasant Pozole Verda, using some Pheasant I had in the freezer. Pozole is basically a Mexican soup made with Hominy and meat.
Quail and Waffles
This recipe follows classic fried chicken and waffles, but the spicy maple syrup is a nice surprise.
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Pheasant Enchiladas with Green Sauce
If you look through some of the recipes that I've posted over the years, you'll see that a lot of what I cook comes from the south and southwest. A lot of Cajun, Southwestern and Mexican flavors ... what can I say, I like it HOT! These Spicy Green Enchiladas are no exception, with a homemade Enchiladas sauce and super spicy Salsa Verde. These Green Enchiladas are going into our weekly dinner rotation!
Blackened Breakfast Quail over Cheesy Grits
I was trying to think of something quick I could cook myself for breakfast the other day, I know Shrimp and Grits are a southern classic, so I thought Id try to do a variation of that by cooking some Blackening Quail Breast and serving them over some Cheesy Grits. It's super quick to make, the grits only take five to six minutes to cook. If you time everything just right, you can have the quail and grits prepared, cooked and ready to eat in under ten minutes. One of my favorite meals to eat is Blackened Catfish fillets over Cheesy Grits. I like to cook it at home for lunch or dinner if I'm by myself, because they are so quick and easy to make, but super delicious and filling.
Gameday Gamebird Boudin Kolache
There used to be a small doughnut shop here in town, it had changed owners a few years ago but now it's shut down. They sold all kinds of different fresh pastries that they baked each day. Sometimes the wife and I would stop by in the morning on the way to work looking for breakfast and coffee. They used to make these breakfast Boudin Kolache's that were my absolute favorite. It was just boudin, wrapped in dough, but it was so good! We eventually attempted to make these at home and the boys loved them ... Any time the kids come to town, these are on the menu.
Sort-of Simple Slow Cooker Pheasant Chili
This is my Sort-of Simple Slow Cooker Chili. It's sort-of my go to Chili recipe when I'm hungry and feeling super lazy. It can be made with ground beef, deer, chicken, or turkey, but for this recipe I'm making it with ground pheasant. I typically make this on the stove in a Dutch oven if I'm in a hurry. This is an easy one pot meal with very little clean up. I'm calling this version Sort-of Simply Slow Cooker Chili because I sort-of didn't cook the whole thing in the slow cooker, but it's still super simple to make, without a lot of clean up. This isn't going to win any Chili contest, but it's a good hearty meal for a cold day that doesn't take a lot of effort. It does have beans in it, so if you live in Texas, you might call it a stew.
Sharp-tailed Grouse with Sunchokes
Sharp-tailed grouse and sunchokes are a match made upland: dark, richly-flavored sharptail begs for the sweet, nuttiness of roasted sunchokes. Plucked and cooked whole, there's something about a perfectly roasted bird that is so simple yet splendid. It's even more special when the bird was wild and hunted.
Pumpkin Pancakes with Candied Bacon and Fried Quail legs
I originally planned on posting a version of this recipe in October, two years ago, then again last year. I just haven't had the time to do so, hence the reason I'm now posting in January. I've made this several different times, each time just a little different. I love a big breakfast and this recipe makes a filling fall meal, with warm spice and lots of sugar! I served these Pumpkin Pancakes with a Maple Bourbon Butter, Spicy Candid Cacon and Fried Quail legs with a Tabasco Honey dipping sauce. You can garnish your pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries and top the whole thing off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or black walnuts.
