I think all of you know what is a pheasant, but maybe not everyone know that you can make a very good and delicate broth with it 🙂 and with a beautiful golden color.

It’s more a “cold weather” recipe maybe, but since I realized that I still had a pheasant in the freezer and the weather was not too hot, then I decided that it was time to cook it 🙂

It’s quite an elaborate and long recipe, so I suggest to prepare the broth one day earlier and then the ravioli on the next day for example. This is a perfect recipe for a nice Sunday/feast lunch for example 🙂 actually you can prepare it even earlier, the broth and the ravioli can be stored in the freezer too.

Let’s see how to make it.

INGREDIENTS (4 people):

For the soup:

• 1 pheasant (mine it was about 600 g cleaned)
• 1,8 liters water
• 2 onions
• 1 carrot
• 2 ribs of celery
• some peppercorns
• 5-6 juniper berries
• 5 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• salt
• chives to garnish at the end (optional)

For the dough of the ravioli (about 40 pieces):

• 300 g flour
• 3 eggs

For the filling:

• 200 g of boiled pheasant meat
• 200 g of fresh porcini mushrooms (cleaned)
• 1 shallot, or a very small onion
• extra virgin olive oil
• a knob of butter
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, not too much, 40-50 grams
• 3-4 fresh basil leaves
• 3-4 fresh sage leaves
• fresh thyme
• fresh parsley
• the zest of half lemon (not too big), not treated
• salt
• pepper

1. First of all we have to prepare the broth. Take the pheasant and clean it well, remove all the possible remaining feathers (using a flame for example) and the blood, then cut it in some pieces.
2. Take a high pot, fill it with cold water, add the onion, carrot and celery peeled and cut into larger pieces, the cloves, the juniper berries, the bay leaf, the peppercorns and then the pheasant (with its skin too). Switch on the heat and bring it to the boil. When it starts boiling set the heat very low and let it simmer slowly, covered, for about 4 hours long. At the beginning you have to skim the foam that will appear on the surface. Season with salt just at the end.
3. When the broth is ready remove the pieces of pheasant and then filter all the liquid with a very thin filter. I did it 2 times, until nicely clean. Then remove carefully all the bones and the skin from the meat (from a 600 grams pheasant remained a bit more than 200 grams of clean meat after boiling it). If you do this one day earlier you can now place the broth in the fridge (when it’s cooled down obviously).
4. Now prepare the dough for the ravioli: take a bowl, add the flour (sifted) and then the eggs in the middle, and start to work it. When it starts to get a shape pour it on the table and work it energetically until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough (8-10 minutes should be enough). Then make a ball and put it to rest covered with a plastic wrap at room temperature, for about 45/60 minutes.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling: take a pan, heat some extra virgin olive oil with the shallot/onion cut very small and then add the Porcini mushrooms, sliced in pieces of the same size (first add the stipes/stems and 3-4 minutes later add the heads, all together cook for 9-10 minutes maximum). At the end add a knob of butter, season with some salt, mix and then keep aside.
6. Now place inside a kitchen robot the pheasant meat, the Porcini mushrooms, the freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, the fresh herbs, the lemon zest, season with some salt and some ground pepper, and reduce everything into a cream (but not too much creamy).
7. Now take the dough and cut it in 3-4 pieces and while you work one piece keep the others covered otherwise they get dry. Flatten the dough at about 2 mm thick (I used the manual pasta machine, at the second thinnest option), then place the filling at about 3 cm from each other, as you see below. Then place the other pasta on the top. Take care to place it perfectly, and take care to push out all the air, otherwise the ravioli could break while boiling.
8. Now cut the ravioli: you can use a specific tool or simply a zigzag pastry wheel. Place them on trays with some flour on the bottom, and keep them covered with clean towels until you cook them. They don’t have to touch each other.
9. Now heat up the pheasant broth (gently), and in the same time boil the ravioli in another pot in abundant water (with salt). The time could vary depending on which flour you used, how thick is the pasta, etc. so when they are floating try one.
10. When they are ready drain them and then serve it in each dish with the pheasant broth. Garnish with fresh chives for example.
11. Enjoy! 🙂