Servings: 6 to 8
Notes: Pheasant is lean, so it benefits from having some kind of fat (in this recipe, bacon) placed over the breast before roasting. Make sure not to overcook the pheasant; set a meat thermometer at 160 degrees, then remove the birds from the oven and let them rest for several minutes. Residual heat will finish the cooking process, and the meat will remain juicy.
MAKE AHEAD: The stuffing can be made and refrigerated a day in advance.
Ingredients:
6 ounces packed brioche, cut into 1-inch cubes (2 cups)
1 large yellow onion, halved and cut into ½-inch slices
Two average-weight (2½ pounds each) eviscerated pheasants (see headnote)
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces fresh, mild Italian sausage, casings removed
4 ounces rapini, chopped (2 cups; also called broccoli rabe)
4 ounces sliced shiitake mushroom caps (2 loosely packed cups)
1 large clove garlic, chopped
6 sage leaves, chopped (1 tablespoon)
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2½ cups no-salt-added chicken broth, preferably homemade
4 strips (4 ounces) thinly sliced bacon, each cut in half
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Toast the brioche cubes on a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Arrange the onion slices at the center of a flameproof roasting pan to create a bed for the pheasants. Remove the giblets and neck from the pheasants. Rinse the birds in cool water, then pat them dry inside and out with paper towels. Cut the wing tips and second joints from the birds and place them around the onions. Sprinkle about ½ teaspoon of salt inside the cavity of each bird.
Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the sausage, rapini and mushrooms. Use the edge of a firm spatula to break the sausage into marble-size pieces; cook, stirring occasionally, until no traces of pink remain in the meat and the mushrooms have wilted, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and sage. Transfer the sausage mixture to the bowl of brioche cubes, along with the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, pepper and ½ cup of the broth, stirring to incorporate.
Divide the stuffing mixture between the pheasants, filling each cavity. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine, overlapping their ends. Rest the birds on top of the onion slices so the pheasants sit level. Cover both birds’ breasts with bacon strips laid over them horizontally. Insert the probe of a remote thermometer, if using, deep into the thigh of one of the birds and set it at 160 degrees.
Bake for 45 minutes; remove the bacon from the birds and lay the strips in the pan around the onion and wing pieces. Baste the birds with 1 cup of the broth. Bake for 15 minutes, baste with pan juices, and bake for another 15 minutes. Once a thermometer (remote or instant-read) registers 160 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the dark meat (away from the bone), transfer the roasting pan to the stove top. Transfer the pheasants to a cutting board and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to remove and discard all the solids from the roasting pan. Position the pan over two burners on medium-high heat; deglaze the pan with the remaining cup of broth. Strain into a fat separator, then pour the pan juices into a sauce boat.
To serve, carve the leg and thigh portions from the birds. Carve the breasts from the carcasses, leaving the wing joints intact. Spoon the stuffing into the center of a warm serving platter and arrange the pieces of white and dark meat around it. Offer pan juices on the side.
From cookbook author and former chef David Hagedorn.
