PHEASANT, CARROT AND PISTACHIO PESTO RISOTTO

Ricetta di Andy Beattie

Medium

PHEASANT, CARROT AND PISTACHIO PESTO RISOTTO

Ingredienti

Carrot puree

400g carrots
2 sprigs thyme
2 clove garlic
2 banana shallots
Good pinch salt
Glug of olive oil

Pickled carrot

30ml white wine vinegar
20g caster sugar
30ml water

Pistachio and parsley pesto

40g Pecorino cheese
30g Pistachio nuts
80ml Virgin Olive oil
50g Parsley/Basil (or other soft herbs)
Small clove garlic
Pinch salt

Confit pheasant legs

2 pheasant legs
200ml goose/duck fat
20g sea salt

Risotto

200g Riso Gallo Arborio Rice
600ml Essential Cuisine vegetable stock
Small glass dry white wine
Glug olive oil
Pecorino cheese

Preparazione

Turn oven on to 120c. Confit pheasant leg: Sprinkle the salt over the legs and refrigerate for 1 day/overnight. Rinse and pat the legs dry. Melt the fat in an oven proof tray and immerse the pheasant legs in the fat. Cook for 3 hours in the oven or on the lowest heat in a pan on top of the stove. Remove from the heat and cool when the meat falls away from the bone at the gentlest of touches. Pick the meat from the bone and reserve the fat for re-use. It is great for roast potatoes or any shallow frying. Carrot puree: Peel the carrots, thinly slice 20 rounds from one carrot and set aside. Chop the remaining carrots into evenly sized pieces. Dice the shallots, pick the thyme and peel and crush the garlic cloves. Place all the ingredients in a pan with the oil and sweat (keeping the lid on) until they are soft and cooked. Add a splash of water from time to time if the ingredients are drying out and starting to catch. Once cooked, place in a blender and puree Pickled carrot: Cut the thin slices of carrot into attractive rounds. Bring the sugar, vinegar and water mix to a boil, add the carrot and immediately remove from the heat. Allow to cool, remove from the pickle liquor and reserve Pistachio and pecorino pesto: Pop the pistachio nuts on a tray and cook at 180c for ten minutes. Allow to cool. Gently crush half of them and reserve for a garnish. Roughly blend the rest of the pesto ingredients together and set aside. Risotto: Sweat the shallots in the oil till soft and translucent and set aside. Heat up the vegetable stock in a separate pan. In a clean pan toast the rice till the grains are hot and then add the white wine. Add the shallots and then add the stock a ladle at a time, stirring often, but not constantly. After fifteen minutes add the carrot puree in and continue to stir. Once the rice is almost cooked and retaining a little bite, add in the cheese and the picked pheasant leg meat. Check the seasoning and allow the risotto to rest, off the heat for a couple of minutes. To serve: Spoon the risotto into warm bowls (it should just fail to hold its own shape and be neither “soupy” or “stodgy”). Garnish with the toasted nuts, pesto and pickled carrot.