Roast pheasant warm winter salad with beetroot, blue cheese and walnuts

Ingredients

Beetroot

• 2 medium beetroot, cleaned but not peeled

Dressing

• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp apple juice
• 40g blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Pheasant

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pheasant breasts (find all our pheasant breast recipes here)
• 4 sage leaves
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Salad

• 80g watercress, roughly chopped
• 40g walnuts, roughly chopped

Method

Beetroot

1. Place the beetroot in a pan of cold water, bring to a boil then simmer with a lid half on until cooked, about 40 minutes.
2. Drain and leave until cool enough to handle, then peel and slice into wedges.
3. Keep warm for serving.

Dressing

1. In a bowl mix together the sour cream, apple juice, blue cheese and oil with a little seasoning.

Pheasant

1. Place a frying pan on a medium heat, then season and brown the pheasant breasts skin side down in 1 tablespoon of the oil. Once golden, turn the breasts skin side up, reduce the heat and add the sage leaves. Fry for a couple of minutes until the meat is cooked through.
2. Turn off the heat and rest for 2 minutes then add the rest of the oil and the lemon juice. Salad In a bowl mix the watercress, walnuts, beetroot and dressing.

To assemble

Pile the salad on to a warm serving plate. Slice the pheasant breasts and place on top then pour over the pan juices and sage.

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