Pan-fried pheasant breast filled with a mushroom and herb mousse

Serves 6 Starters and mains

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Method

Remove the wishbone, legs and breast from the pheasants. Chop up the carcasses and legs, then put on one side while you make your sauce. Chop half the mushrooms very finely then sweat them slowly in some butter. Keep cooking until all the liquid had disappeared from the pan. Once the mushrooms are cooked, spread them onto a tray to cool down.

Before you make your mousse, ensure that the bowl to your food processor and the blade are both cold and that the chicken and cream are also cold.

Place the diced chicken in a food processor and blitz to a fine paste. Still blending, add the egg white. You will notice that the mix splits and starts to whizz around the bowl but give it a minute or two and it will mix in.

Stop the mixer and scrape down all the bits from the sides of the bowl then give it another pulse to ensure all is well mixed and there are no lumps.

Take two bowls the same size. Place ice in one and sit the other on the ice. Now add the finely minced chicken to the top bowl. Take 150ml of cream, carefully add half of the cream to the chicken and mix. Once mixed in, add the other half of the cream and mix well, season with salt and place in the fridge.

Once the mushrooms are cold, carefully fold into the mousse with the chopped parsley and chives. Place into a disposable piping bag and chill in the fridge.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the chopped legs and carcasses until a good colour, then remove them from the pan. In the same pan, fry the onion, then, after 5 minutes, add the carrot, garlic and thyme until you get a good colour. Once the vegetables are well browned, add the bones and the red wine and reduce by half, then add the stock and reduce again by half. When the sauce has reduced, pass it through a sieve to remove the bones and vegetables, then return to the stove to reduce to the consistency of single cream.

While the sauce is reducing, take the pheasant breasts and stuff the mousse you prepared under the skin. Heat some oil in a pan, season the breasts and place in the pan, skin-side down. Cook for 5-6 minutes, then add a knob of butter and turn the breasts over. As the butter foams, baste the breasts well to colour for 5 minutes, then place in an oven at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 10 minutes, basting regularly. Take a knob of butter and cook the rest of the mushrooms. Once cooked, remove any excess butter and add the reduced stock. Bring to the boil, pull off the stove and add the remaining cream. Reduce to the consistency of single cream.

Once the breasts are cooked, rest for 4 minutes, then carve and serve with the sauce.