Roasted Pheasants with Bacon and Pears

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A brace of pheasants theatrically garnished with tail feathers makes a striking Christmas centrepiece. If your butcher cannot provide you with feathers, use a bunch of fresh aromatic herbs instead.

SERVES 6-8
2 oven-ready pheasants, about 1.15kg each
25g soft butter
200g crustless stale bread
25g bunch fresh thyme,
de-stalked, plus extra to garnish (optional)
4 shallots, sliced
1 clementine or tangerine, zest grated, juice squeezed
1 egg
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
6-8 rashers of smoked, streaky bacon, de-rinded
3-4 cinnamon sticks, halved lengthways
3-4 dessert pears, halved lengthways and cored
4 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100ml robust red wine
Pheasant feathers (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C, Gas Mark 5. Pat the pheasants dry inside and out, using kitchen paper, then rub the bird all over with the butter. Crumble the bread into a food processor along with the thyme leaves, shallots and citrus zest, and blitz until even-sized crumbs are formed. Break in the egg, add the seasonings and half the citrus juice, then blitz again to make a damp stuffing. Stuff each bird. Set the birds in a large roasting pan and fold some bacon into V shapes across the breast of each to cover it. Push some cinnamon shreds into each pear half and set these around the birds. Gently simmer the jelly, Worcestershire sauce and wine together until syrupy. Drizzle some over and around the birds and reserve the rest. Roast the birds and pears for 30 minutes, then remove the pears and keep to one side. Cook the birds for a further 20 minutes, then drizzle the pan juices over the birds, adding the reserved syrupy glaze and remaining citrus juice. Roast the birds for a final 10-20 minutes until the leg joints feel loose and the juices from the thigh, when pierced, look clear and golden, not rosy. Return the pears to the pan, turn off the heat and leave to rest for 10 minutes. To serve, tie the feathers into a fan shape and foil-wrap the quill ends. Tie the legs together with string and put the feather "fan" or thyme in between. Surround with the pears and a drizzle of glaze.

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