Pot Roast Pheasant Wrapped In Pancetta

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200c/gas 6. Soak olives in water to remove saltiness.
2. Season pheasants. Insert a few tiny sprigs of thyme into the breast using the point of a small knife. Heat butter in a large frying pan and sear pheasants on all sides. Remove pheasants from pan and set to one side.
3. Sear pig's trotter pcs in pan. Chop onion and celeriac and add in to pan.
4. Brown slightly with trotter. Add in red wine and sherry to pan and bring to boil. Cook for 10 min to drive off alcohol.
5. Pour contents of pan into roasting tin. Drain olives and rinse. Add in olives to roasting tin with bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Place pheasants on top of trotters and vegetables, breast side down, and roast in pre-heated oven for 25 min.
6. Remove roasting tin from oven. Sit pheasant breast side up and cover breasts with pancetta or possibly bacon. Baste well. Return pheasants to oven to complete cooking. This will take between 20 min for younger birds and 50 min for much older birds. Test by inserting a skewer into thickest part of thigh - juices should run clear when pheasants are cooked through.
7. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
8. Remove pheasants, trotter and olives and keep hot. Place roasting tin on hob and reduce juices by boiling if necessary. Press sauce through a sieve into a clean pan. Heat gently while whisking to give a rich, gelatinous sauce. Season if necessary.
9. Remove breasts by cutting down either side of the breast bones and working the knife along the rib cage. Cut off legs and thighs at hip joints. Serve breast and leg to each person with a piece of trotter; mashed potatoes with extra virgin olive oil and a good dollop of crab-apple jelly.