Pheasant on couscous with a Heffe and Boysenberry Sauce

Wipe the mushrooms with a moist paper towel to clean off any dirt and put in a baking dish.

Peel onion and then cut in quarters and put in a baking dish with the mushrooms.

Season with salt and pepper and then drizzle with olive oil and put in a hot oven 200º until softened.

Remove the breast fillets from the pheasant and then cut away the legs.

Score the skin of the pheasant with a sharp knife and then season the breast with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Cook in a very hot pan with some olive oil skin side down so as to brown and crisp the skin. You may need to use a spatula to press the breast down firmly on the pan so as to keep all the skin in contact with the pan.

In the baking dish that has the onion and mushroom place a handful of the wild the thyme in the dish and then put the breasts of pheasant skin side up on top of the thyme and cook in a hot oven for about 5 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Take out of the oven cover and rest.

Make couscous according to packet – bring one cup of water to the boil add 2 tbls spoons of oil (I used good olive oil) a generous pinch of salt and then 1 cup of polenta.

Take off the heat cover and leave for a couple of minutes.

While couscous rests take the roasted onion out of the oven and chop up, chop the parsley and zest the lemon. Add a generous knob of butter to the couscous and mix it through using a fork to separate the grains then add in the onion, zest and parsley.

Take the pan that you cooked the mushroom, onion and pheasant put on the stove over heat and deglaze – if there is no juice you can add a little butter to help fry the shallots till softened then add half a cup of the wheat beer and about a ¼ cup of the chicken stock and a ¼ cup or so of the Boysenberry and garlic sauce.

Give it all a mix and taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly adding salt and pepper and any other ingredient ie more beer or sauce etc.

Simmer down until reduced to about ¼ of a cup or to a consistency you like. You can put this through a strainer, return it to the pan and finish it with a little more butter if you want to make a more velvety sauce. Or just spoon it out of the pan leaving the shallots in it for a more rustic feel.