On Monday morning, as I casually strolled ten minutes late into my soon-to-be-ex workplace, I glanced at the bulging green shopping bag on my desk. I slung my handbag over my chair as my colleague came shuffling in pointing at the bag.

‘You said you’d be OK with whole pheasants,’ he said.

I stared blankly.

‘You just need to get a knife and insert it below the breasts’.

I peered into the shopping bag on my desk. Inside was a lump of feathers that could have passed for a pillow. A long, flecked feather poked out of the bag, and I could see two pairs of gnarled claws.

The week before, I had received two Pheasant breasts, which I wrapped in bacon and served with dauphinois potatoes. But today, I had two whole pheasants sitting on my desk. My colleague went shooting on weekends, and this time he had been up to Scotland on the hunt. I had boldly suggested I could easily sort out a couple of whole birds myself, and so there they were, on my desk before my morning latte.

PHEASANT PIE RECIPE

1. Make an incision into the pheasant with a large knife, preferably into the side of the body that has breasts on it. Not, as I did, into its back.
2. Peel back skin (and feathers).
3. Avoid getting feathers all over your hands, face and kitchen floor.
4. Run a knife down the centre of the bird, between the breasts. Dig fingers under breasts.
5. Once you have taken the meat off, chop into small pieces and brown lightly in a frying pan.
6. Remove meat, add a knob of butter, one finely chopped leek, one chopped onion, three chopped celery stalks and handful of chopped bacon. Saute.
7. Add a glass of white wine, simmer. Add two tablespoons of cream. Add half cup boiling water and one teaspoon gravox. Simmer and reduce.
8. Add meat into the pie mix. Prepare a pie dish with rolled short-crust pastry.
9. Spoon mixture into the pie dish, cover with  a pastry dish and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with mash and a green salad.

And that’s it. Truly English Pheasant Pie, no pheasant plucking required!

Related Articles

• I did it my way (ladybirdinfrance.blogspot.com)
• Pheasant roasted in spices and pomegranate molasses and stuffed with pilaf recipe (telegraph.co.uk)
• Pheasant hunting photos (chicagonow.com)