Pheasant in Bacon Wrap with Dried Prunes

Ingredients

• 1 pre-cooked pheasant
• Salt
• black pepper (ground)
• 2 fresh salsiccia sausages (coarse pork sausage)
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• Cinnamon
• nutmeg
• 6 dried prunes
• 1 untreated lemon (zest)
• 200 g bacon slices
• 2 onions
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 6 fresh bay leaves
• 0.25 l dry red wine (Chianti)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 3 spring onions
• 2 carrots
• 4 tender celery stalks
• 6 dried prunes
• 0.125 l dry red wine (Chianti)
• 1 glass elderflower syrup

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the pheasant, pat it dry and rub the outside with salt and pepper. For the stuffing remove the casings from the sausages and chop them finely. Mix in the cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pit the prunes, roughly chop them, and add them with the lemon zest to the stuffing; mix well. Stuff the pheasant, tie it closed, cover it with bacon slices, and wrap it with kitchen twine. Peel the onions and slice them into very thin rings. Heat olive oil in a roasting pan, briefly sauté the onion rings with bay leaves, place the pheasant inside, and brown all sides for about 10 minutes.

2. 2.

   When the pheasant has a golden‑yellow color around it, pour over red wine and vinegar. Cover, reduce heat, and braise the pheasant for about an hour. For the sauce wash and dry the spring onions; remove the green parts and slice the white parts into fine rings. Wash, peel, and finely dice the carrots; cut celery into thin slices. Blanch the diced vegetables in plenty of salted water for 3‑4 minutes, drain, and set aside.

3. 3.

   Remove the pheasant from the pot and discard the kitchen twine. Add Chianti and Vin Santo to the pan juices, season with salt, and heat the sauce again for another 5‑10 minutes. Combine half of the sauce with the blanched vegetables and chopped prunes. Halve the pheasant and serve on a plate topped with vegetable‑prune sauce and a bay leaf garnish.