John Cesters Poultry & Game Meat

Venison & Game Meat Melbourne

Quail, mushroom and watercress risotto

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Cook up a feast for your VALENTINE

Difficulty not too difficult 

Cooking time less than 60 minutes

Serves serves 2

INGREDIENTS

  • chicken stock, 3½ cups
  • extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon
  • eschalots, 2, finely diced
  • Arborio rice, 1 cup
  • dry white wine, ¼ cup
  • butter, 20g, plus 20g extra
  • quail breasts, 8
  • thyme, chopped, 2 teaspoons
  • chestnut mushrooms, 150g, trimmed
  • mozzarella, ¼ cup, finely chopped
  • watercress, trimmed, ½ cup

METHOD

  1. Pour stock into a medium saucepan and bring to a slow simmer on low.
  2. Heat oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan on medium. Saute eschalots for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
  3. Pour wine into pan with rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute, until absorbed. Then add hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring until all liquid has been absorbed before adding the next ladle. This will take 15-20 minutes. Rice should be tender, with a slight bite.
  4. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large frying pan on high. Sprinkle quail with thyme and season to taste. Add to pan, skin side down, and cook 1-2 minutes, until crisp and golden. Turn and cook a further 1 minute. Remove from pan and cover with foil to keep warm.
  5. Add mushrooms to same frying pan and saute 2-3 minutes, until tender and golden. Season to taste.
  6. Remove rice from heat. Stir extra butter and cheese through. Season to taste. Cover with lid 2 minutes. Stir quail, mushrooms and watercress through. Serve hot.

Best Enjoyed with a Rich Pinot Noir!  Pinot_Noir_In_Glass

 

Peking Duck

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peking-duck-recipe-11
Ingredients
For the duck:
  • 4 duck breasts (about 6 to 7 ounces each) with the skin on, rinsed and thoroughly patted dry with a paper towel
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
  • Pinch of five spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon oil
For the mandarin pancakes:
  • 1½ cups flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • ⅔ cup boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon oil
For the fixings:
  • 1 cucumber, de-seeded and julienned
  • ½ cup julienned cantaloupe (optional)
  • 2 scallions, julienned
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced and mixed with 1 teaspoon oil to make a paste (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
 
Instructions
  1. First, marinate the duck. Mix the salt, soy sauce, wine, and five spice powder in a small bowl and massage into the duck. Leave the duck breasts skin side up on a plate uncovered, and let sit in the refrigerator overnight to marinate and to let the skin dry out. (If you don’t want to wait overnight, reduce the marinating time to 30 minutes).
  2. Next, prepare the Mandarin pancakes. Mix the flour and salt in a heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling hot water into the flour mixture and use chopsticks or a spatula to mix until a dough ball forms. Once it is cool enough to handle, knead the dough for 8 minutes until smooth, adding flour if the dough is too sticky. Cover with plastic and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
  3. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into a dough ball, then flatten them out into a small disc about 2 inches in diameter. Lightly brush 6 of the discs with oil, ensuring the sides of the discs are also brushed with oil. Layer the remaining 6 discs over the 6 oiled discs so you have 6 pieces, each comprised of 2 discs.
  4. Use a rolling pin to roll the discs into 7-inch circles, flipping the pancakes frequently so both of the dough discs are rolled into the same size.
  5. Heat a wok or frying pan over medium low heat, and place one pancake into the pan. After 30 to 45 seconds, you should see air pockets begin to form between the two pancakes. Flip the pancake; it should be white with just a couple of faint brown patches. Any more than that, and they are overcooked. After another 30 seconds, the air pockets should be large enough to separate the two pancakes. Remove the pancake to a plate, and let it cool for another 30 seconds. Now carefully pull apart the two pancakes at the seams. Place finished pancakes onto a plate and cover with a warm kitchen towel. Repeat until all pancakes are done.
  6. The pancakes can be reheated in a steamer for about a minute when ready to serve. They also keep in the freezer for up to 3 weeks if you decide to make a larger batch. Next, prepare your fixings and place in small bowls to serve alongside the duck. (Using cantaloupe as one of the add-ins was new to us but was quite common in China. It’s a surprisingly delicious addition!).
  7. Next, preheat the oven broiler on low heat. Heat an oven-proof pan over medium-high heat, and add 1 tablespoon of oil to coat the pan. Sear the duck breasts, skin side down. Move them frequently so the skin crisps up and fries in the duck fat that renders out. After 8 minutes, or when the duck skin is golden brown and a little bit crispy, carefully drain off the duck fat and discard (or save for later application to other recipes!). In the pan, flip the duck breasts (so they are skin side up), and transfer them to the broiler for about 3 minutes. Be careful not to burn the skin, which at this point should be a bit crispy.
  8. Remove the duck from the broiler and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. The duck will be cooked about medium well and will be very juicy. Transfer to a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut into thin slices.
  9. Serve the duck with your warmed pancakes, fixings, and sauce.

Warm couscous and pumpkin salad with dukkah kangaroo fillet

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Ingredients

  • 500 g pumpkin, peeled and diced into 1 cm cubeswarm-kangaroo-fillet-salad-image

  • 2 medium zucchini, diced

  • 1 red onion, halved, peeled and diced

  • 6 cloves garlic, skin on

  • ½ cup olive oil

  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar

  • sea salt and ground black pepper

  • 1 cup (200 g) pearl couscous

  • 2 cups hot vegetable stock

  • 500 g kangaroo fillet

  • ¼ cup dukkah

  • 2 tbsp chopped mint

  • ¼ cup chopped coriander

  • juice of a lemon juice

  • ¼ cup crumbled feta

  • ¼ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced) and line baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin, zucchini, onion, garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil and vinegar together, tossing until well coated in oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Place tray in preheated oven and roast for 30 minutes, turning halfway through.

To make the pearl couscous, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add pearl couscous and cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden. Pour over vegetable stock, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 16 minutes or until stock has been absorbed. Stir occasionally.

For the kangaroo, heat remaining oil in large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Rub kangaroo with dukkah, place in frying pan and brown the meat on all sides. Transfer kangaroo to prepared baking tray and cook in preheated oven for 5-10 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly.

To serve, combine roasted vegetables, couscous, sliced kangaroo, mint, coriander and lemon juice together in a large mixing bowl, tossing until well combined. To finish, sprinkle over feta and almonds.

Kangaroo Sausage Roll

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1453696431024Serve with your favourite tomato relish or sauce.

Difficulty: easy

Makes: 18

Ingredients:

  • 500g kangaroo fillets
  • ½ red capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 small brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 3 teaspoons mixed herbs
  • 1 ½ teaspoons mustard seeds
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 sheets puff pastry
  • 1 egg, for brushing
  • sesame seeds and nigella seeds or poppy seeds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C°

2. Place meat, and vegetables herbs and spices into food processor and wiz until blended into a fine mince.

3. Take your sheet of pastry and cut it into thirds one way, then in half the other way, making six pieces out of each sheet.

4. Roll a small handful of mince into a sausage and place on the edge of one piece of pastry and then roll it up ensuring you have enough cross over to create a seal. I like about 1cm to prevent bursting.

5. Repeat with remaining mince and pastry until you’re done, placing them onto a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray as you go.

6. Lightly whip your egg and then brush over all of your sausage rolls before sprinkling the tops with seeds.

7. Pop into the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and crunchy.

8. Serve with your favourite sauce.

 

Cooking Instructions for a Turkey Fillet Roll

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  1. Pre-heat your oven to 170°Cturkey-fillet-roll-e1349751828129
  2. Rinse and wipe your fresh stuffed or plain turkey fillet roll dry with kitchen paper.
  3. Transfer the turkey roll to a baking tray and massage it with a simple marinade of 2 tbs olive oil, 30g melted butter, 1 cloves of fresh garlic roughly chopped, 3 sprigs of thyme, sea salt and pepper.
  4. Add a tub (or 2 depending on the size) of our fresh turkey stock to your baking tray as this will keep the turkey roll moist and succulent and assist with basting the turkey fillet roll during cooking.
  5. Place in your oven and loosely cover it with foil.
  6. A turkey fillet roll needs to cook for an 1hr for the first kilo then 40mins per kilo thereafter. For example a 2kg turkey roll will take approximately 1hr and 40mins to cook.
  7. Remove the foil completely from your turkey roll for the final 30 mins to brown it.
  8. If unsure, your turkey roll is cooked when juices run clear after being pierced in the thickest part of the roll with a skewer.
  9. Allow your turkey roll to rest in a warm place for approximately 15minutes before carving. This will ensure that the juices have settled and will make the meat very succulent.
  10. While your turkey roll is resting, strain the juices from the baking tray to remove any garlic and thyme from the marinade and place 1 cup of those baking juices in a saucepan along with our homemade turkey gravy. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes. Serve it along with our homemade cranberry sauce.
  11. And remember, enjoy yourself! It’s all about friends and family during this festive season. We would love to see your turkey pics anytime! Send them to us or post them on our Facebook page! Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.