Recipe - Oven-Braised Pheasant With Sauerkraut

One half teaspoon Dried thyme or I sprig
fresh
2 sl Lean bacon, minced
2 Pheasants, 2 pound each *
3 pound Sauerkraut, thoroughly
rinsed and drained
1 One half cup Dry white wine
1 teaspoon Juniper berries (about 20)
2 Cloves
1 Bay leaf
Defatted chicken stock or
water
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper to taste

* skinned, trimmed of fat and cut into serving pieces (backbones included)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large Dutch oven, saute bacon over
medium heat until crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Add legs, backs and wings and
brown in batches on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes. (Refrigerate breast pieces,
covered, until needed.) Add sauerkraut, wine, Juniper berries, thyme,
cloves and bay leaf to the Dutch oven. Cook over medium heat until about
half the liquid has evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes. Place the Dutch
oven in the oven, uncovered. Bake for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally
and adding liquid as needed, until the legs are tender and the sauerkraut
is slightly browned. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, discard backs,
wings and bay leaf, season to taste, cover and keep warm. Raise the oven
temperature to 425 degrees F. Salt and pepper pheasant breasts and place
them on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast them for 20 to 25 minutes, or until
juices run clear when they are pierced with a fork. Remove the breasts from
the roasting pan, set aside and keep warm. Reheat the legs in the Dutch
oven briefly. Slice the meat from the breasts and lay it over the legs and
sauerkraut.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini