Lemon Spatchcock Pheasant with Couscous Salad
Although often compared to chicken, pheasant offers a smokier, more aromatic flavour - a true game bird. Serve this spatchcock pheasant with a hearty, Mediterranean-style salad and enjoy alfresco. Recipe by Wild & Game.
Lemon Spatchcock Pheasant with Couscous Salad
Although often compared to chicken, pheasant offers a smokier, more aromatic flavour - a true game bird. Serve this spatchcock pheasant with a hearty, Mediterranean-style salad and enjoy alfresco. Recipe by Wild & Game.
- Serves: 2
- Prepare: 40 Minutes
- Cook: 1 Hour
- Difficulty: Medium
WHO ARE THE ORGANIC BUTCHERY?
Starting life as an organic farm in the heart of the West Country, The Organic Butchery is proudly founded on a long history of organic principles. We source the best quality organic grass-fed and wild meats, sustainable fish and organic free-range poultry from trusted local suppliers and like-minded brands to guarantee the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship. Our mission is to approach butchery with a whole-carcass perspective, to make the most of every animal that crosses our blocks, which means we offer you cuts that you will never see on the supermarket shelves.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE GAME?
It’s no secret that despite living a free-range life, game is reared primarily for sport. In the west country, we are surrounded by estates that do this and so manage the eco systems that support a bounty of flora and fauna in the area. Our game is harvested by people licensed to do so and only during ‘designated’ seasons.
Ingredients
600-900g whole wild pheasant (you'll find instructions online on how best to spatchcock the pheasant)
For The Marinade
- 100ml lemon juice
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2tsp mixed
- dried herbs
- 100ml olive oil
- 1tsp sea salt
- ½tsp freshly
- ground black pepper
For The Salad
- 200g couscous (dry weight)
- 250ml stock
- half a block of feta, cut into cubes
- a bunch of parsley, chopped
- 1 courgette, diced
- half a red pepper, diced
- half a yellow pepper, diced
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 1 red onion, diced
- half a head of garlic, with the non-root end cut off
- 4tbsp olive oil plus 1 more to add to the garlic
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- salt & pepper
Method
- Mix the marinade ingredients and pour over the pheasant, then leave to marinate for 30 minutes, or place the pheasant and marinade in a sealed bag in the fridge to marinate overnight
- Heat the oven to 200°C/190°C fan/Gas mark 6, or fire up the BBQ
- Add the salt and pepper and cook the pheasant for about 30-35 minutes or until cooked through. The internal temperature of the breast should reach 63°C
- Meanwhile, toss the peppers, courgette, tomatoes, garlic and onion in 4tbsp of olive oil. Add salt & pepper and roast for 15 minutes
- Pour 1tbsp of olive oil onto the garlic and roast for a further 10-15 minutes
- Make up the couscous by adding the hot stock, covering and leaving to sit for about 10 minutes until all the water has been absorbed and the couscous is soft
- Fluff it up with a fork
- Add the lemon juice to the pan with the roasted vegetables. Squeeze out the garlic cloves, squash with a fork
- Return to the roasting tray, then pour all the contents onto the couscous and combine
- Add the feta, parsley and a little salt if needed
- Serve the pheasant with the salad
WHO ARE THE ORGANIC BUTCHERY?
Starting life as an organic farm in the heart of the West Country, The Organic Butchery is proudly founded on a long history of organic principles. We source the best quality organic grass-fed and wild meats, sustainable fish and organic free-range poultry from trusted local suppliers and like-minded brands to guarantee the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship. Our mission is to approach butchery with a whole-carcass perspective, to make the most of every animal that crosses our blocks, which means we offer you cuts that you will never see on the supermarket shelves.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE GAME?
It’s no secret that despite living a free-range life, game is reared primarily for sport. In the west country, we are surrounded by estates that do this and so manage the eco systems that support a bounty of flora and fauna in the area. Our game is harvested by people licensed to do so and only during ‘designated’ seasons.
Frequently asked questions
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Their meat takes on the flavour of the berries, plants, seeds and other wild food that game birds and animals enjoy, making it far more flavoursome and characterful than intensively farmed meat.
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Typically, game meat is the flesh of land mammals or birds, that are hunted for food instead of being raised on a farm. Game meat includes, ‘small birds’ such as quail, ‘winged game’ such as woodcock, grouse or partridge, ‘ground game’ such as rabbit or hare and ‘large game’ such as venison.
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Most game is only available during the autumn and winter, during the shooting season, this is followed by the ‘closed season’ when shooting is no longer allowed, this is essential for protecting animals when they are breeding and rearing their young. However, some game does not have a ‘closed season’, these game meats include rabbit and pigeon. At Coombe Farm Organic we freeze our game meat, making it available to you the consumer all year round.