A pheasant surprise…

I’m sorry, that’s a dreadful pun, but I couldn’t resist.

The butcher has come up trumps with a pheasant – A reasonably sized hen sets me back four quid – a little pricey, but I do live down south these days.

These birds can dry up pretty quickly in the oven, so I wrap some streaky bacon over the breast and stuff a knob of butter, a shallot and grated lemon zest into the cavity. Into the oven at 200C for 45mins to and hour… ish. This oven is still a bit cheeky. Off with the bacon for the last 15 minutes to brown the breast a bit.

Mrs Jiffler and I tuck into the breast and body meat with some mashed butternut squash and potato (with the crispy streaky snipped up and stirred into the mash). The pan juices make good gravy with a slosh of Rioja.

The whole lot disappears pretty quickly, and I feel like lighting a cigar and having a nip of brandy afterwards. A good game supper has that effect.

There are two meaty legs leftover for some home made ravioli sometime soon, and the carcass for a stock. The home-made ravioli might be a serious undertaking with a lot of swearing… lets see.

Mrs Jiffler is off again, to see family at home in Lincolnshire. I’m a bit unhappy to see her go away again for a few days, but I’m promised the usual batch of Lincolnshire food goodies - Sausage, stuffed chine, haslet, and with a bit of luck a block of Lincolnshire poacher for an autumn salad – when she returns.