Pheasant Cordon Bleu Casserole with Ritz Cracker Crust
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One of my all-time favorite meals, in my life, ever, was a Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole that my wife had made for dinner one night. I can't tell you way it was so good, maybe I was just super hungry that night or maybe the stars were aligned just right ... but I remember that meal distinctly and how amazing I thought it was ... and how I wished she'd make it again. It was salty, it was savior, it was cheesy and that crushed, buttery, Ritz crackers crust, MMMmmmm!! I could have eaten the whole thing, by myself and not felt guilty, had my wife not reminded me that we had kids at home that needed to eat too!! It was pretty much a whole meal unto itself, nothing else was needed ... and that pretty much defines what a Casserole is, a one pot dish.
As amazing as that meal was, it's not what triggered me to recreate this dish for Gundog Central. I had recently gone to lunch with a good friend of mine, after a recent karate exam. We had planned on going to a popular steak house, but it was too crowded, making the wait time for a table over 45 minutes. Not wanting to wait, we ended up going across the street to a different restaurant. My friend ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu off the menu. After they brought it out to him, he commented on how disappointed he was that it wasn't Chicken Kiev. He didn't initially remember the name of that dish, but went on explaining to me about what it was, why it was so good and how when you cut into it butter would gush everywhere. He didn't realize it then, but he kind of planted the seeds for the next two recipes I would share. This Pheasant Cordon Bleu Casserole and a Pheasant Kiev.
While I may not have known much about Chicken Kiev , I definitely knew about Chicken Cordon Bleu and was eager to try and recreate one of my all-time favorite meals. This is my twist on that meal ... a Pheasant Cordon Bleu Casserole with a Ritz Cracker Bacon Crust. Chicken Cordon Bleu is typically chicken breast, butterflied allowing you to stuff ham and cheese inside, folded close, then coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. I think that's how most people picture it, but we're actually making a casserole version of it by putting down several layers of cooked Pheasant, cooked Ham and White cheese in a casserole dish then topping it all off with Ritz Crackers and Bacon bits. Cordon Bleu translates to "Blue Ribbon", but the dictionary defines it as the "highest class". While this wasn't a competition between me and my wife, on who makes the best Cordon Bleu, this dish is definitely worthy of a blue ribbon and I think it's something your whole family will really enjoy.
Ingredients
Instructions
Step #1 Pour 2 cups of milk into a measuring glass and allowing it to reach room temperature.
Step #2 Grate all your cheese if you didn't buy it pre-shredded.
Step #3 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step #4 In 8 to 10 inches skillet. Cut your bacon in half and cook until crispy.
Step #5 While Bacon is cooking, remove the skin from Pheasant Breast and generously salt and pepper both sides.
Step #6 When bacon reaches desired crispness, remove from skillet to a paper towel covered plate.
Step #7 Leave the bacon grease in the skillet, we'll use it to cook the pheasant breast. Place each pheasant breast in the skillet and cook each side of the breast about 4 to 5 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches between about 135 - 140 degrees. You don't want to cook all the way to 145 degrees, because this dish will go in the over for 20 minutes at the end, when all the ingredients are combined.
Step #8 When Pheasant reaching the right temperature, remove from skillet and let rest on plate.
Step #9 Place the ham in the hot skillet and allow it to cook. You may find that your ham creates a lot of water, you may need to drain some of the water that collects in the pan, if you want your ham to brown.
Step #10 While the ham is cooking, let's start our bechamel sauce. In a large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter is melted, 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, stirring to combine. Allow to cook for 2 minutes and pour in your warm milk. Stirring continuously until it just started to thicken.
Step #11 Add 1/2 cup Vermont White Cheddar, 1/2 up of Monterey Jack Cheese to your bechamel sauce. Then season with Cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper, to taste. Stirring to combine everything.
Step #12 Cut your pheasant breast and ham into small bite size chunks. Like 1/4 inch in length.
Step #13 Take a small casserole dish and grease the bottom of it with butter.
Step #14 Start your dish by placing a half of your Pheasant down in the bottom of the casserole dish. Followed by half of your Ham. Cover the ham with 1/2 cup of White Vermont Cheddar, followed by 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack Cheese. Follow this with the rest of your Pheasant, followed by the rest of your Ham. Then another 1/2 cup of Vermont Cheddar and 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack.
Step #15 Take your bechamel sauce that we made earlier and pour it over the top of the dish. You want to sauce to ooze down between all the cracks to the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle another 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack Cheese over the top.
Step #16 Put 24 Ritz crackers in a zip lock bag and crush them to pieces. It should make a fine cracker crumble. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the microware. Put your cracker crumbles in a bowl and pour hot butter over the top, using a fork to combine and fluff.
Step #17 Take the Ritz cracker crumble and distribute it evenly over top of your casserole.
Step #18 Cut the bacon up into fine pieces and sprinkle over the top.
Step #19 Place the dish in the oven for 20 minutes.
Step #20 When the dish comes out of the oven, garnish the top with chopped Flat Leaf Parsley.
Recipe Card
Pheasant Cordon Bleu Casserole with Ritz Cracker Crust
Ingredients
Instructions
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.
