Pheasant Wellington Recipe with autumnal vegetables, chestnuts & blackberry

Ingredients for Pheasant Wellington recipe

Pickling liquor
120g sugar
240g white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns

Game jus
3 shallots
1 bulb garlic
100ml madeira
100ml port
100ml red wine
Thyme
1 litre game stock

Parsnip purée
3 large parsnips
Milk & cream

Wellington
4 large pheasant breasts
200g wild mushrooms
2 chicken breastsv 3 egg whites
200ml cream
1 roll puff pastry
500g caul fat

Garnish
150g diced pancetta
150g cooked chestnuts, sliced
200g sprouts, sliced
Butter
300g blackberries

Leyburn, North Yorkshire
Head Chef: Tristan Prudden

Serves 4

Prepare the pickling liquor and jus a day in advance. Combine the liquor ingredients with 120ml of water and bring to the boil. Once the sugar is dissolved remove from the heat, cool, pass and set aside. For the sauce, thinly slice the shallots and peel two-thirds of the garlic bulb, then bring to the boil with the port, madeira, red wine, and a small handful of thyme. Reduce to a syrup, then add the warmed game stock, reduce to a thick sauce consistency, pass and set aside.</p)

Peel, slice, and boil the parsnips in enough milk and cream to cover until soft. Pass, reserving the cooking liquor, and blend to a smooth purée, adding liquor for the correct consistency. Season, pass through a fine sieve, and reserve.

Trim the pheasant breasts for the Wellingtons. Finely chop, sweat, and season the mushrooms, then leave to cool. Make a chicken mousse by blending the chicken breasts with the egg whites, then adding cream until the correct consistency is achieved. Pass through a drum sieve and season, then stir in the mushrooms and place in a piping bag. Pipe a layer onto each pheasant breast, then wrap each breast in caul fat. Cut the pastry with a lattice cutter and wrap around each breast. Egg wash and bake at 180°Con a lined baking tray for 14-18 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp, then rest.

Start reheating the sauce and purée. Fry the pancetta in a dry frying pan until crispy, then add the sprouts with a knob of butter and cook until tender. Add the chestnuts and season, then drain on kitchen paper. Immerse half the blackberries in the pickle liquor.

Start the plate with a swipe of purée topped with sprouts. Sit the wellington on top, with pickled blackberries to the side. Mix the remaining berries into the sauce and drizzle onto the plate.