Skip to main content

Pheasant and Wild Garlic Dolmades

I should really call this 'when opportunity knocks'! There are moments when opportunities arise while out and about, it's all about good fortune, random happenings, destiny (however you like to call it) and whether or not to act on the opportunities presented - when it comes to road-kill pheasant, I'm always happy to swing with the opportunity. This recent RTA bird was initially destined to become 'Pheasant Kiev'. However, while out early yesterday morning to pick the wild garlic required, my mind drifted and happened upon another idea I've had for a while, a take on Dolmades - this was in part due to the terrific size of some of the leaves I was finding, they were perfect for wrapping into mouth watering parcels and a bit of fun too.

The following recipe made 8 dolmades and there is still enough mixture left over for at least 6 more - I should have picked more leaves! It's a flavour fusion reminiscent of the Mediterranean, North Africa and the UK.

Ingredients:

2 Pheasant Breasts (skin & yellow fat removed) or Organic Chicken Breasts
16 Large Wild Garlic Leaves (for the parcels - I chopped the stems and added them to the mix)
1 Red Onion
4 Spring Onions (chopped)
5 Cloves Garlic
20g Piece of Root Ginger
125g Butter
100g Wholegrain Rice (cooked)
75g Pine Nuts (toasted)
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
50g Petit Pois (cooked)
Green Seaweed Powder (mine contains 3 varieties)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Smoked Sea Salt
Dry Thyme
Mixed Spice
Extra Wild Garlic Leaves

I melted the butter gently in a pan on a low heat, fine grated in the garlic cloves, ginger, red onion, lemon zest and added the pheasant breasts - I gently poached them in this mixture until just cooked. Once cooked I took them off the heat, left to cool and then chopped into smaller pieces and put into a mixing bowl. I then added the cooked rice, spring onion, pine nuts, seaweed powder, black pepper, smoked salt, petit pois, thyme, mixed spice, chopped wild garlic stems and some finely chopped wild garlic leaves, lemon juice and mixed this until blended and infused.

Ready to wrap
I then used two large wild garlic leaves to wrap around a generous helping of the filling (see image right) and used cocktail sticks to hold them together (I think lengths of thinly sliced seaweed could be used to tie them but didn't have any to hand). The finished parcels were then placed in an ovenproof dish which was buttered and lined with extra wild garlic leaves to prevent the parcels from sticking and potentially burning from contact with the hot dish, I also added some water and extra lemon juice to act as a steaming agent once the whole dish was covered tightly in tin foil. I steamed them in a preheated oven (200 degrees) for approx 20 - 25 minutes.
                                                                                                                                               
Wild Garlic lined dish
Steamed and ready to serve










These parcels would be excellent served as part of a mezze type platter dish. Other fresh wild ingredients such as nettles could be added to the mixture. The other ingredients could also be substituted or added to - there are no hard and fast rules regarding cooking, I find this incredibly appealing. Saying that, I'm sure some will disagree but even I know that adding such things like horse shit to a recipe isn't going to go down very well at all. My advice is play about and experiment, the worse that can happen is that something doesn't quite work out as expected but then again you may discover something new and exciting.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unripe Figs in Syrup

Preserved Unripe Figs. Batch #1  I recently acquired a copy of 'The New Wildcrafted Cuisine' by, Pascal Baudar (many thanks to Dominick Tekos for sending it me). Despite the fact that he resides in California, much of the books content is applicable with regards to techniques, philosophies, creativity and inspiration, and some of the wild plants, regardless of where in the world you reside. Understanding our native floras & faunas is the same the world over I guess. Climates, habitats, techniques, cultures etc do differ but I firmly believe we all have innate and transferable knowledge and practices, whether they be ancient or contemporary (some yet to be rekindled/discovered/attained even), and we can adapt them to our own wild plants, landscapes, seasons, resources and requirements.                                           Now, moving swiftly on to the main them...
3 comments
Read more

Japanese Knotweed: The Terribly Terrific Tasty Terrestrial Triffid

It really is one of those 'love, hate' relationships, depending on which side of the proverbial fence you find yourself. Personally, I love Japanese Knotweed. I love it's potential as a diverse food & drink resource, I'll delve deeper into that arena later. I also find it to be a striking and handsome plant. I've read some very interesting academic, scientific and medicinal literature, both mainstream and non, which raised many a question regarding Japanese Knotweed; how it's perceived professionally, and thus culturally, and how this determines and affects it's subsequent treatment by humans. I heartily recommend the book 'The New Wild' by Fred Pearce - a book all nature lovers, conservationists and environmentalists should consider reading. Like so many, I too was led to believe that Japanese Knotweed aka Fallopia japonica was a botanical nightmare, especially with regards to its reportedly negative impacts on our beautiful countrys...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sea Kale

If you are lucky and live close to the sea, especially in striking distance of a shingle beach, then you may just find Sea Kale... As far as coastal edibles go, Sea Kale rocks: it's a true delight! Throughout the winter you will detect very little in the way of signs indicating if Sea Kale is present as it spends the winter tucked up, snugly, beneath the shingle awaiting the Spring. The first signs of life generally begin in early spring (in mild winters it may appear earlier), when the tiniest of shoots, wake from their wintry slumber and start to force their way up through the shingle and, as the season progresses, more and more shoots appear. The leaves, whether new or mature, come in an assortment of varied and magnificent colours (see image top right): greens, purples, reds, greys and lilacs. They are crinkly edged and become more open and rounded edged with age. Eventually, the flowering shoots appear on thick, tender, circular stalks and look remarkably similar to pu...
Post a Comment
Read more