NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/912676
60 NEBRASKAland • DECEMBER 2017 By Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley T his is, hands down, one of my favorite pheasant recipes. If you have guests over for the holidays and need to feed breakfast to a large crowd, quiche is the way to go. Cook the sausage, pheasant and shallots beforehand and allow the spinach to thaw and drain overnight. Assemble quiches the next morning and bake. Think of it as a breakfast pie. Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes Servings: 8 (2 pies) Ingredients: • 2 deep-dish frozen pie crusts or your favorite recipe • 2 large shallots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup) • 1 tablespoon of butter • 2 skinless, boneless pheasant breasts • 6 ounces pork breakfast sausage • Olive oil • 10 ounces of chopped frozen spinach, thawed • 8 large eggs • 2 1 ⁄2 cups of heavy whipping cream • Generous pinch of ground nutmeg • Kosher salt • 1 ⁄4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper • Freshly cracked pepper • Red pepper flakes • Zest of one lemon, finely grated 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow frozen pie crusts to thaw for 10 minutes and then prick holes all over the bottoms and sides with a fork; this helps to prevent the crust from rising in the oven. Bake crusts in the oven for 15 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly golden. Set aside cooked crusts and lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. 2. Brown pork breakfast sausage in a pan over medium-high heat. Break up the sausage with a wooden spoon. Remove cooked sausage and drain on paper towels. 3. Add more oil to the pan if necessary. Pat pheasant breasts dry with a paper towel and sprinkle salt and pepper all over. Brown the breasts in the pan until just cooked through, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Cut cooked pheasant breasts into small cubes and set aside. 4. Clean out the pan if it gets too "gunky." Lower heat to medium and melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook sliced shallots in the butter with a pinch of salt until lightly browned, but do not burn. Remove and set aside. 5. Squeeze out as much liquid from the spinach as humanly possible. To assemble the quiches, spread a quarter of the drained spinach at the bottom of each pie crust, followed by layers of divided cooked shallot, pork sausage crumbles, pheasant cubes, another layer of spinach and then more shallot. 6. To make the egg mixture, whisk together 8 eggs, 2½ cups of heavy cream, a generous pinch of nutmeg, 1 ⁄4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Pour and divide the egg mixture between the two quiches. Place quiches on a rimmed cookie sheet(s) and bake gently at 325 degrees for 55 minutes. Serve quiche slices warm or hot with freshly cracked pepper, red pepper flakes and some lemon zest sprinkled on top. ■ This recipe and photograph originally appeared on Jones Dairy Farm's website at jonesdairyfarm.com. An easy wild game breakfast pie. Pheasant and Sausage Quiche