Pheasant Stew with Chesnut Dumplings | Jamie Oliver (2024)

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1. Cut the legs off the pheasants and chop in half at the knee.
2. Cut off the breasts and wings in one piece, then chop in half. You’ll have 16 pheasant pieces in total. Reserve the carcass.
3. In a bowl, mix the flour with a few pinches of sea salt and black pepper, and toss in the pheasant pieces to coat. Leave for a while so the flour sticks to the skin.
4. Peel and chop the onions and carrots, then trim and chop the celery, reserving the peelings. Peel and halve the garlic.
5. To make pheasant stock, chop the carcasses in half and put them in a saucepan with a third of the veg and garlic, and all the peelings.
6. Add water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming off any floating bits.
7. Pass through a fine sieve, discarding the vegetables and peelings, then reserve.
8. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Cut the bacon into lardons, then add to the pan with the floured pheasant pieces.
9. Brown slowly on all sides, adding more butter as required.
10. Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and bay leaves, and cook until soft and fragrant.
11. Pour over the madeira and top up with stock to just cover the meat. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, adding stock if the liquid reduces.
12. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4.
13. To make the chestnut dumplings, mix the ingredients in a bowl, crumbling in the chestnuts.
14. Mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, and just enough cold water to bind everything.
15. Dust your hands with flour and roll into about 25 Brussels sprout-sized balls.
16. Pour the stew into an ovenproof pot. Drop in the dumplings, poking them under the surface of the stew.
17. Cover tightly with a lid or tin foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the dumplings are fluffy and have soaked up the liquid. Serve with braised red cabbage.

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