Pheasant with Gin & Juniper

What better combination than pheasant and gin?! At Wild and Game we think this is a winning dish and you should definitely add to your dinner party list of favourites. It’s not only really tasty but is so easy to cook too.

Ingredients

• 2 large pheasants (jointed)
• 2 onions (roughly chopped)
• 8 juniper berries (crushed)
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1 ¼ litres of chicken or game stock
• 250ml of gin
• Salt and pepper to season
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• Enough sausage meat to make 6 sausage patties

Method

1. Brown the pheasant joints in a large casserole dish in oil and flour over a medium heat. Transfer to a plate. Put the onions into the casserole dish and cook until lightly browned, then stir in the flour and cook out for 2 minutes.
2. Add the juniper berries, thyme, salt, pepper and the pheasant, layering the onions in between.
3. Add the gin and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours in a pre-heated oven at 160C.
4. For the sausage patties, take good quality sausage meat out of their skins, mix with herbs and fry for 10 minutes before the end of pheasant cooking time.
5. Serve with dauphinoise potatoes and sausage patties.