Recipe: Tim's Pheasant Fajitas

This spicy wrap treatment will work far any quick cook game you can lay your hands on, it may seem like a waste to use this recipe for grouse or duck even, but the more flavour the game has, the better this treatment works, I very often use this spicy tactic to convert non game meat eaters to the cause too, as its such a friendly format for game dodgers to get their heads, and lips, around. This dish never fails to bring a smile to the faces of the diners at Vale House Kitchen, at home or even in the field.” Serves 2, or 1 if your extra hungry! (simply scale up for more hungry mouths to feed....) 

Ingredients:

1 breast of Pheasant, or better still, 2 boned out thighs

1⁄4 of a small onion

A little chilli – or a lot of you like it hot

1⁄4 teaspoon of Coriander seeds, 

1⁄4 teaspoon of Cumin seeds,

1⁄4 teaspoon ofCaraway seeds,

1⁄2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika,

1 clove of garlic

A little natural yoghurt, or sour cream if you prefer

A sprig or two of watercress or crisp shredded lettuce

A sprig of fresh coriander

Method:

For the Tortillas:

1. A handful of white spelt flour, a splash of water and a teaspoon of veg oil, pinch of salt.
    
2. Work into a soft but pliable dough, rest. Sounds simple but many people get this wrong, making your own simple dough like this is something that will require a few practice runs to get it right, the oil is no more than a passing acquaintance and although the dough should be smooth and elastic it should to be sticky or overly springy.
    
3. Roll out squash ball sized balls of the dough quite thinly and cook briefly in a very hot frying pan with no oil until puffed up and lightly coloured in places.

For the Pheasant:

1. Toast the spices and lightly and then crush lightly in a pestle and mortar, don’t powder them up, a little crunch and texture here is to be desired.
    
2. Now cut the pheasant into strips about the thickness of a pound coin and slice the onion a little more thinly, chop the garlic and chilli.
    
3. Sauté in a hot frying pan with the spices, and a little oil, add the veg, garlic, chilli and sauté for another minute or two.
    
4. Serve with the tortillas and lashings of natural yoghurt, sprinkle with plenty of fresh coriander and make sure you have some nice watercress or crunchy salad to hand.

Any left over tortillas will make for excellent Quesadilla the following day. 

©Tim Maddams 2015

Tim Maddams in conjunction with Vale House Kitchen
Find out more about Vale House Kitcken shoot & game cookery courses

Recipes are written by Celebrity Chef Tim Maddams in conjunction with Vale House Kitchen, who run fantastic courses incorporating shoot days and game cookery courses for novices and experienced guns.

Tim has worked under such culinary luminaries as Fergus Henderson, Alistair Little, Marco Pierre White and Mark Hix, as well as leading the VIP catering team for the Ferrari F1 team in Europe. The lure of his country roots was never far away and so Tim returned to the South West and started work at River Cottage.