Pheasant Spaghetti with Whole Wheat Pasta
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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.
San Marzano are kind of like a Roma tomato, only more slender, in fact the Roma tomato was born from a cross of San Marzano's and another hybrid tomato. The San Marzano is prized in Italian dishes because of its balance of sweetness and acidity. With a bucket full of these prized tomatoes, I thought I'd try to do a classic Italian dish. This is my attempt at using my homegrown garden produce to create Pheasant Spaghetti.
Spaghetti can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. I decided I wanted to create my sauce using one dish, just to let all the ingredients marry together. I browned the meat, then added onions, garlic, whole tomatoes, basil and seasoning. You could even it kick it up a notch by adding mushrooms or bell peppers, I'm just using what I had on hand. You could have browned your meat in one pan and created your sauce in another... and maybe that's the preferred way of doing it, just not what I did here. You could even take your sauce and add to the blender to get a smoother consistency, if you wanted to create it separate from the meat. You could also take a shortcut by just using a canned sauce. I decided to make my own wheat pasta, but there's no reason you couldn't also use store bought pasta as well, if you wanted to save even move time. All in all I think this turned out pretty good and we all enjoyed it.
Ingredients
Pasta Noodles
Garlic Infused Oil
Pheasant Spaghetti
Instructions
Garlic Infused Olive Oil
Step #1 Slice up garlic cloves and add to a small container
Step #2 Drizzle in Olive Oil and allow two sit for 30 to 40 minutes.
Pasta Noodles
Step #1 Combine Wheat Flour, All Purpose flour with a pinch of salt in mixing bowl.
Step #2 Make a small well and add the two eggs to the center.
Step #3 Using your hands or a spatula combine the eggs and flour.
Step #4 When the dough comes together, turn out on a when floured surface and knead by hand. Or if you have a stand mixer, use dough hook on medium setting.
Step #5 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside until sauce is ready.
Spaghetti Sauce
Step #1 Gather up about two pounds of tomatoes
Step #2 Set a pot on the stove and fill it half way up with water. Turn the heat on high and let it reach a rolling boil. Fill another mixing bowl with water and a bunch of ice cubes.
Step #3 Cut crossways slits in the bottom of each tomato.
Step #4 When the water reaches a boil, drop a few of them in.
Step #5 After about 30 to 40 seconds, remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon or spider.
Step #6 Then add to the ice bath. Repeat until all your tomatoes are done.
Step #7 The skins should peel right off with ease. Alternately, instead of the boiling water method, my wife will slice her tomatoes in half then place in the hot oven until the skin is slightly charred, then allow to cool before removing skins.
Step #8 Once all the skins are removed, dice up yellow onion and garlic.
Step #9 Add a large, deep skillet to the stove, setting the heat to medium high. Pour in a tablespoon or two of your garlic infused olive oil.
Step #10 Throw in about a half tablespoon of red pepper flakes.
Step #11 Add in ground pheasant, salt and pepper.
Step #12 Allow pheasant to cook for a few minutes before adding diced onion.
Step #13 Add Italian Seasoning
Step #14 Once Pheasant is browned and Onion are translucent, add in diced Garlic.
Step #15 Allow garlic to cook for one minute, then add your peeled tomatoes.
Step #16 Pour in one cup of Pheasant Stock
Step #17 Sprinkle in some more salt and pepper, then cover.
Step #18 Allow to reach a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes then remove the lid.
Step #19 Using a spatula break part the tomatoes, they should easily fall apart.
Step #20 Add fresh basil, including stem and continue simmering for another 20 minutes.
Step #21 Remove Fresh Basil stem and sprinkle in some dried Basil. Taste and add any additional seasoning you think it needs.
Step #22 Now that the sauce is done, it's time to start back on the pasta. If you have a stand mixer with a pasta attachment, set it to the widest setting and lowest speed. Flatten your dough enough to run through attachment. Keep sprinkling attachment with flour to keep dough from sticking.
If you don't have a stand mixer. You can use a rolling pin to roll out as flat as possible, then cut into thin strips with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
Step #23 Keep working through the mixer, folding dough in half the first couple of times.
Step #24 Keep reducing the width with each pass so that each time your pasta sheet keeps getting thinner and longer.
Step #25 Once you have the desired thickness, switch attachments to the spaghetti noodle attachment. Cut your long pasta sheets into workable sizes, then run through spaghetti attachment.
Step #26 Add to pasta rack while you get your boiling water ready.
Step #27 Add a large stock pot to stove, filling it with enough water to cook your pasta. Add a couple palmfuls of kosher salt to the water.
Step #28 Add your fresh pasta noodles to boiling water. These only need to cook for one minutes.
Step #29 Remove pasta from the boiling water to bowls, adding a little bit of the pasta water to each dish.
Step #30 Brush your bread slices with Garlic Infused Olive Oil
Step #31 Place under broiler until brown
Step #32 Top noodles with our pasta sauce and garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
Recipe Card
Pheasant Spaghetti with Whole Wheat Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta Noodles
Garlic Infused Oil
Pheasant Spaghetti
Instructions
Garlic Infused Olive Oil
Pasta Noodles
Spaghetti Sauce
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.
