This rich, creamy soup is a comforting dish for chilly weekends. When buying your pheasant, ask the butcher to cut away the leg and breast meat for you. You’ll need the breast and carcass for this soup, but not the legs; try them in our BBQ Pheasant with Asian Slaw.
Method
1. Prepare the stock
To make the stock, chop the carcass bones into several pieces and roast in a hot oven for 10 minutes at 200°C.
2. Add the veg
Once browned, put the bones in a large pan with the chopped onion, celery, carrot, garlic and leek. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer
Simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes and keep topping up the water so that everything is just covered.
4. Sieve the stock
Pass the stock through a fine sieve into another pan, then add the diced potato, onion, garlic, leek, mushrooms, and thyme. Gently cook until soft, then add the stock and cream and blend it all together.
5. Poach the pheasant
Remove the skin from the breasts and gently poach them in the stock for 20 minutes. When cooked, carefully take from the pan and put to one side.
6. Stir in the cream
Stir the cream into the stock, then carefully ladle it into a food blender. Blitz until smooth and velvety, then return to the pan and bring back to a simmer.
7. Serve up
Chop the pheasant into roughly ½ cm pieces and add to the soup. Season to taste and pour into soup bowls. Sprinkle the fresh chopped parsley over the top and serve with warm sourdough chunks and proper salted butter.