My regular readers will know I love a bit of politics and this week Ed Balls has really wound me up. His plan to bring back the 50% top rate of income tax will suffocate small business like the underground cookery school and is part of an anti-business agenda that runs against the good work precipitating the current recovery, which the shadow chancellor still denies.
I didn’t let my anger get the better of me and this week made a ballantine of pheasant with kale which looks more impressive then any Labour policy, tastes amazing and is bang in season.
I placed one breast at a time between two sheets of cling-film, and using the cling film roll, hammered into flat escalopes. I then mixed the stuffing ingredients together to form a moose and added this to the center of each escalope and rolled, wrapping tight in cling film and then silver foil so it resembled a cracker. Both ballantines were placed in a pan of boiling water and left to simmer for 10 minutes. They were then allowed to rest for five minutes before being unwrapped. Then I placed both in a hot frying pan with a little butter and in each case browned the outside. They were sliced on the angle and served with kale which was steamed in a pan with a little garlic and chicken stock for five minutes. The remaining juices from the pan were passed through a sieve and reduced to make a jus.
Is it me or is Balls is looking and sounding more like Gordon Brown every day; the same Gordon Brown who wrote off the car the last time we gave him the keys; we’d be better off letting Justin Bieber drive.
Ballantine of Pheasant with curly Kale (serves 2)
2 breasts of Pheasant,
15g Fresh thyme,
50g Chanterelle mushrooms, pan fried in butter,
2 large dates stoned and roughly chopped,
1 large tablespoon of a jam of your choice, salt and pepper.
For the Kale:
1pint Chicken stock
2 cloves of Garlic finely diced
50g Kale
