Chestnuts, Cream Apples and Geneva Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 4-5 half, released breasts of pheasants
• The bones (in professional terms "carcasse") and lower thighs of the released pheasant
• 150g green unsalted bacon in thin slices
• Wine leave from the housewall
• Solid chestnuts, if possible fresh and not out of a can
• "Mirepoix" (carrot, leek, celery, parsley branches, onions)
• 3-4 equally big Cox Orange Apples
• 20-300g winekraut
• A bit brown "jus"
• A little bit concentrated butter
• 2-3 onions
• 200g wine berries
• 1/4l dry Riesling
• 3-4 beaker cream
• 1 beaker sour cream or crème fraiche
• Spices (salt, pepper)

Preparation

The sauce:

1. Sear the chopped bones of the pheasants and the lower thighs.
2. Add "mirepoix"(1 carrot, a little leek, 100g celery, parsley branches, 2 chopped onions), freshly grounded pepper corns, geneva, 1-2 cloves and 1 bay leaf.
3. Let it all gain colour.
4. Meanwhile put a 1 tea spoon of tomato puree onto this.
5. Deglaze it with approx. 1litre brown "jus" and a little water.
6. Let it simmer for 2-3 hours.
7. Then sift it.
8. Reduce it to the required volume.
9. Complete it every now and then with sour cream.
10. Check the taste and consistence.
11. If necessary add spices or a little starch to get the sauce spicy and viscid.

The cream apples:

1. Peel the apples, get rid of the cores.
2. Cut the apples into thick slices.
3. Sprenkle a little lemon juice onto them in order to sustain the colour. (Without this measure the apples become brown quickly.)
4. Get a pan of the appropriate size.
5. Place the pieces of apple all close to each on its bottom.
6. Cover the apples with cream.
7. Put the pan only for a short time onto the oven and then let the apples cool off.
8. The cream will already have closed in on the apples slices, like a delicious coat.

The Maronen:

1. Cut the fresh chestnuts crosswise.
2. Preheat the oven.
3. Place the chestnuts on a baking sheet.
4. Keep them in the oven for for approx.20 minutes at 200° Celsius.
5. Take them out, let them cool off and peel them.
6. Caramelise a little bit sugar (30-40g) until it is lightly brown.
7. Deglaze it carefully with 1/8 litre of water.
8. Let it reduce in order to achieveve "syrup-like" consistence.
9. Put the chestnuts into the caramelised sugar.
10. Keep them there for 3-4 minutes.
11. After that they should look shiny.

The Riesling winekraut:

1. Cut the onions into stripes ("juliennes").
2. Sweat them in concentrated butter until they look glassy.
3. Add then the winekraut.
4. Fill this up with beef stock and Riesling.
5. Spice it with 1 bay leaf, a little pepper corns, 3-4 cloves and optional a little sugar.
6. Let it cook for 20-25 minutes.

The pheasant:

1. Salt the breasts with Salt and pepper.
2. Wrap them then into the wine leaves in the first place.
3. Then wrap them into the green bacon.
4. In order to make sure that they maintain their shape, put a little yarn around it.

Attention:

• The bacon must be unsalted and green indeed.
• Otherwise the breasts become pink during the frying.
• The bacon is supposed to protect the tender meat against too much heat.

The baking:

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Sear the breasts only shortly in concentrated butter.
3. Let them gain a little colour.
4. Then put them into the preheated oven.
5. Keep them there for 6-8 minutes at 160° Celsius.
6. Take them out and let them rest for 1-2 minutes.
7. Remove the bacon and the leaves.
8. Cut the breasts into slices.

Serving suggestion

• Place the cream apples in two layers in a fireproof, buttered form.
• Put the form for 5-10 minutes into the still hot oven in order to heat it up.
• Then arrange them on a dish.
• Put for every guest 2-3 chestnuts onto the dish.
• Put the sliced breasts (the pheasant should still be pink inside) on the apples
• Garnish this with sweated, browned, halved wine berries.
• Add separably the geneva cream sauce, Riesling kraut and potato puree.