Recipe: Pheasant ballotine

A pheasant ballotine looks as good as it tastes, and is ideal for a snazzy, game-based dinner party main course.

Follow Game for Antyhing's pheasant ballotine recipe below - which is stuffed with a game mousseline - and prepare to wow your guests! 

Pheasant ballotine recipe | Serves 4

Ingredients 

For the mousseline

• 250g pheasant & partridge breast meat, diced (removing all sinew) 
• 75g egg whites
• 150ml double cream 
• 50g roasted chestnuts, diced into 5mm chunks 
• 75g wild mushrooms, finely diced 
• 5g tarragon, finely sliced 
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper 

For the ballotine 

• 4 large pheasant breasts (remove the mini fillet and any sinew, then butterfly by slicing through the centre of the breast)
• 5 large slices of cured ham (such as Parma or Culatello ham)
• 20g unsalted butter 

Method

Mousseline 

1. In a small saucepan, add the wild mushrooms and olive oil and gently fry over a low heat for 10 minutes until golden. Allow to cool completely, then place in the fridge.
2. Place the diced pheasant and partridge into the freezer for about an hour (you need to keep the meat really cold so that when you add the cream it does not split).
3. Put the meat into a food processor and pulse until completely smooth, then add the egg whites and gently pour in the cream while pulsing. Once all is well combined stop pulsing (you don’t want to over work this mixture).
4. Place a sieve (we used a flat one but a round one is fine) over a large bowl and bit by bit, pass the mixture through using the back of a spoon or a plastic dough scraper – this is how to get a silky smooth finish.
5. Now add in the chestnuts and wild mushrooms and stir in until well combined. 

Ballotine 

1. Lay two sheets of cling film out on the worktop. 
2. Place the cured ham slightly overlapping in the centre of the sheet then place the butterflied pheasant breasts on top of the ham.
3. In the centre, spoon out a line of mousseline. 
4. Gently roll up the ballotine, then wrap over the cling film to form a nice sausage shape. 
5. Holding both ends, roll on the worktop to make it extra tight then tie both ends and snip off the excess cling film. 
6. Place into a vacuum bag or zip lock bag and seal throughly.
7. If using a water bath, set it to 64˚C for 1½ hours. If using a pan of water on the stove, you want it to be just simmering and cook for about 1 hour. 
   Top tip: The best way to check it is cooked is using a temperature probe – the centre should read at 64˚C. 
8. When the ballotine is cooked, remove from the water bath or pan, place onto a chopping board and remove all the wrapping.
9. In a frying pan, heat the butter. When it is melted and starting to bubble, add the ballotine to the pan and start to brown the cured ham.
10. Once all the sides are nicely browned, remove from the heat. Allow to rest for 10 minutes but basting several times in the butter.
11. Now you are ready to slice and serve; we recommend serving with kale, mini roast potatoes and a butternut squash puree!