Pheasant Or Chicken With Apple Cider Recipes

Steps:

• Make marinade:
• In blender, combine olive oil, ginger, tarragon, orange juice, zest, salt, and pepper and purée until smooth. In large bowl, combine marinade and pheasant and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.
• Braise pheasant:
• In very large Dutch oven over moderately high heat, heat olive oil until hot but not smoking. Remove pheasant pieces from marinade, scraping off excess, and sprinkle with salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Working in batches, sear pheasant pieces until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towel-lined platter to drain.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Skim off all but 1 tablespoon oil from pan, leaving browned bits at bottom, and set pan over moderately low heat. Add butter and heat until melted. Stir in onions, bay leaf, fennel seeds, salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are well caramelized, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Return pheasant to pot. Add chicken broth, cider, and wine. (Liquid should cover half of pheasant pieces. Add more chicken broth if necessary.) Raise heat to high and bring liquid to simmer. Add apples, cover, and transfer pot to oven. Braise, turning pheasant pieces occasionally, until meat is cooked through and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Using tongs or slotted spoon, transfer pheasant to platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Set pot over high heat and bring pan juices to boil. Boil, uncovered, until sauce is well reduced and thickened, about 25 minutes. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, if necessary.
• While juices are reducing, prepare caramelized onions and apples:
• Bring medium pot of water to boil. Add pearl onions and boil, uncovered, 1 minute. Drain and run under cold water until cool enough to handle; slip off skins.
• In small skillet over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onions, apples, sugar, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Sear, shaking pan occasionally, until onions and apples are dark golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in apple cider, scraping up any browned bits in pan. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until onions are fork tender, about 2 minutes more.
• Serve:
• Spoon some of sauce over pheasant and garnish with onions, apples, and chopped tarragon. Serve additional sauce alongside.

Steps:

• Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, add to pan and sear until golden, about 4 minutes each side. Remove chicken from pan, and set aside. Add remaining butter and onion, apple, garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Saute until apple begins to get color and onions soften, about 6 minutes. Add flour and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Nestle chicken back into pan, add cider, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes.

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, mix the milk and vinegar. Dip the pheasant slices in the milk and vinegar mixture, then press both side in the cracker crumbs to coat.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the pheasant in the hot oil about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Steps:

• For the pickled apples, put the salt, sugar, vinegar and berries in a small pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add the apple cubes and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided casserole and season the pheasant joints with salt. Brown them all over, rendering out some of the yellow fat into the pan. Remove to a plate and season with pepper. Add the leeks, bacon and thyme to the pan along with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and fry until the leeks have softened - about 8 mins. Add the apple slices and cook until starting to colour on both sides.
• Spoon in the brandy and cook until evaporated, add the cider and simmer for a few more mins to cook off the alcohol. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and add the pheasant joints back to the pan, covering with a circle of baking parchment.
• After 15 mins, remove the breasts from the pan to a plate and return the circle of baking parchment to the pan. Cook gently for a further 20 mins, then remove all the pheasant pieces from the pan to a plate and turn the heat up to reduce the sauce. Boil hard for a few min until reduced, then stir in the cream and mace and turn off the heat. Return the pheasant pieces to the sauce - the residual heat will warm it perfectly.
• Divide the pheasant between plates and spoon over the sauce. Garnish with the pickled apples and hazelnuts. Serve with our celeriac colcannon.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Melt the butter in a large non-stick flameproof dish. Season the pheasants, add to the dish and brown on all sides. Remove from the dish and set aside.
• Add the bacon, onion, celery and sage to the dish and cook for 10 mins until the onion is soft and the bacon is crisp. Carefully pour off any excess fat.
• Return the pheasants to the dish and scatter over the apples. Pour over the cider and the chicken stock, bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 25 mins until the birds are cooked through.
• Remove the birds from the dish and keep warm. Return dish to the hob over a high heat. Let the liquid bubble until reduced by half, then add the cabbage, cover with a lid and cook for 3 mins. Add the cream, check the seasoning, and continue cooking for 1 min more. Serve the pheasant on top of the cabbage mixture with some mashed potato, if you like.

Steps:

• Pat the chicken thighs dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
• In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the oil over medium. Cook the chicken thighs skin-side down, undisturbed, until the skin is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip and cook until lightly browned on the other side, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Pour off all but about 3 tablespoons of fat from the pot, turn the heat to medium-low, then add the shallots and sage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Be careful not to let the garlic burn.
• Add the cider, cider vinegar, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the cider has reduced slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pot, skin-side up. Pour just enough broth around (not on!) the chicken to cover the sides of the thighs but not cover the skin on top.
• Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Partly cover and gently simmer until the thighs are cooked through and tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate or sheet pan (if you'd like to broil the chicken in the next step), raise the heat to medium, and add the kale and apple to the pot. Cook, tossing often, until all the kale is wilted, the apples are just softened and the liquid has reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. While the greens cook, if you'd like to crisp the skin on the chicken, pop it under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Taste for seasoning, and stir in 1 or 2 more teaspoons cider vinegar to taste. Divide the chicken and kale mixture among shallow bowls; serve with crusty bread to mop up broth.