Wild Harvest Fettuccine With Morels And Breast Of Pheasant

By á-170456

Ingredients

• MOREL CREAM SAUCE:
• 18 morels - (to 25) depending on size
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped ramps
• 1 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• Freshly-ground white pepper to taste
• Nutmeg to taste
• GARNISH:
• 24 fiddlehead ferns
• 2 tablespoons butter
• PHEASANT:
• 2 boned skinned and halved pheasant breasts (from birds approximately 3 lbs ea)
• Salt to taste
• Freshly-ground white pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

To prepare the sauce, clean the morels thoroughly. Pat them dry and halve them lengthwise, then cut into small pieces. Melt the butter in a skillet, adding the morels and ramps. Stir gently but continuously as they cook. When they begin to soften, add the cream. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce begins to thicken. This should take roughly 15 minutes. Season with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Rub any remaining brown fuzz from your fiddlehead ferns, trimming the tails to leave less than an inch. Drop them into boiling salted water, cooking until they're tender, but not soggy. This should take about 5 minutes. Drain well and toss in butter.

About 1/2 hour before serving time, sprinkle the pheasant with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a large, heavy skillet. When the butter begins to foam, add the pheasant breasts and brown lightly. This should take about 5 minutes. Turn and cook the pheasant over moderately-low heat until they are barely cooked in the center. Cooking them any longer will cause them to toughen and dry. Remove them from the skillet and allow them to sit for five minutes.

Cook enough fettuccine pasta to serve four people. Toss the hot pasta with 3/4 of the sauce. Slice the pheasant breasts into 6 vertical slices and "fan" them over the pasta. Top with the remaining sauce and surround with the fiddleheads.

This recipe yields 4 servings.