Szechuan Pheasant with Cashews

After boning the pheasant, place pieces in a bowl and cover with milk and put in the refrigerator.

Add the bones and any scraps of pheasant left from boning to a medium pot and cover with cold water (approximately 4 cups). Add celery, onion, carrot, bay leaf, garlic and peppercorns. Simmer for at least an hour. You will need approximately 3 cups of finished broth. Taste broth. If it is too weak, add some chicken bouillon. If it is too strong, dilute with water. Strain broth and discard solids.

Drain milk from pheasant. Add flour, salt, pepper and thyme to a shallow dish. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. While that heats, dredge pheasant pieces in flour mixture. When pan and oil are hot, add pheasant to pan in a single layer. Don’t move them around. Let them sit and brown for a couple minutes. Flip over and brown the other side. Add more oil and repeat in batches until all the pheasant is browned. Remove to a plate.

Add broth to the pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan (see note on related blog post regarding this if your pan is overly dark or burned). Add pheasant to the broth, along with coriander seed and whole hot peppers. (I had some leftover celery and onion and threw that in to the recipe as well, but I don’t usually do that). Simmer for 20 minutes. Broth will thicken as it cooks.

Remove peppers (or at least don’t eat them). Serve over wild rice (or white or brown) and sprinkle the top with cashews and green onion.