Main course for 4 people

Ingredients:

  • 2 dl chicken broth
  • 1 pheasant (legs covered with bacon)
  • butter
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 1 oignon
  • 1 dl cognac
  • a couple of twigs of thyme
  • a couple of bay leafs
  • 2 dl cream
  • 8 stalks of chicory
  • 250 g mushrooms
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • a few twigs of curly parsley
  • potato croquettes
  • nutmeg
  • pepper
  • salt

PREPARATION IN ADVANCE

Heat up the chicken or vegetable stock.
Preheat the oven to 200 ° C.

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the inside and outside of the pheasant.
Put a lump of butter in the cavity and put a few lumps of butter on top.

Place the pheasant in an oven dish and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes. The pheasant will not yet be fully cooked, but that is how it should be. Remove the pheasant from the oven, fold over a sheet of aluminum foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Peel the carrot and cut into small cubes.
Finely chop the celery and the onion.
Place a pot on a medium heat and melt a knob of butter.
Cook the pieces of onion, celery and carrot.

Remove the pheasant from the oven dish, but keep the cooking fat.
Remove the string and the strips of bacon (used for the legs)
Place your knife in the joint and cut off the drumsticks. Place the thighs of the pheasant in the oven dish.
Let the drumsticks fry with the vegetables; they give off taste.
Place your knife close to the sternum and cut off the breast fillets.
Place them with the thighs in the oven dish. You bake them again briefly, just before serving.
Cut the carcass in half and let the pieces bake for 5 minutes with the vegetables and the drumsticks.

Pour in the cognac and flambé. Turn off the ventilator hood first!
Pour in the stock, and sprinkle with the laurel and the thyme.
Add the cream and let the sauce cook for 10 to 15 minutes on a low heat.
Pour them through a fine sieve and keep separate.
Remove the end and the hard core of the chicory.
Melt a knob of butter in a pan and add the chicory. Season with freshly ground pepper, salt and some nutmeg.

Pour a small splash of water, put the lid on the pan and let it cook for 20 minutes or longer on a low heat, depending on the thickness of the chicory.

AT THE LAST MINUTE

The evening itself you grill the pieces of pheasant briefly, on a moderate fire and turn them over after a few minutes. Turn off the heat immediately.

Meanwhile, clean the mushrooms with a brush. Cut away tough pieces of stalk. Break or tear the biggest mushrooms into pieces. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms.

Crush the garlic into a pulp and finely chop the parsley, and add. Season with freshly ground pepper and a little salt.

Turn on the deep fryer to 180 ° C. Fry the croquettes golden brown.

Taste the sauce and season with a little pepper and a pinch of salt. Add a cold knob of butter and mix with the whisk until the butter has melted away.