FOOD & NUTRITION: Students raise their game

Students have been learning how to joint, skin and cook pheasants in their food and nutrition classes. This is the dish they made with teacher LOUISE SOLDEN, who explains how it’s done

OUR food and nutrition department was fortunate enough to receive fresh, oven-ready pheasants as part of the Game Changer programme. This initiative, launched by the Taste of Game organisation, promotes the use of game by donating pheasants and other game to schools in the hope more young people will learn how to joint, skin and cook these birds and animals.

For many students who take GCSE food and nutrition, this is their first experience of undertaking highly skilled challenges such as these.

Students are given a pheasant to work on in pairs but choose their own recipe to make once the bird has been disassembled.

The photo above shows pheasant meatballs, it’s a simple dish and can be made in just over an hour. It is also suitable for freezing and, including pasta, serves four people. I do hope you like it. The recipe is as follows: 

Pheasant meatballs

Ingredients

450g pheasant

250g minced pork or pork belly

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon each of freshly chopped parsley and basil

25g fresh breadcrumbs

1 egg

………………………..

Sauce

50g olives

75g sundried tomatoes

500ml passata plus 200ml water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Fresh pepper

Method

  • Joint, skin and fillet the pheasant
  • Whizz it up in a food processor with the onion, garlic and herbs
  • Place it in a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients
  • Mix well and form into meatballs. Season with salt and pepper
  • Heat the oil in a casserole dish and lightly fry the meatballs on all sides
  • Add the passata, water, olives and sundried tomatoes
  • Place the lid on the pan and gently cook for at least 30 minutes
  • Serve with fresh pasta