Smoked pheasant, apple & spring onion salad with a grain mustard dressing

Serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients

2 hot smoked pheasant breasts

1 Cox’s apple or Russet

4 spring onions

1 tsp grain mustard

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chopped parsley

Method

Cut each of the smoked pheasant breasts into four, then slice them at an angle.

Cut the apple into four, remove core and slice thinly. Trim the spring onions and slice at an angle thinly. Make a grain mustard vinaigrette by placing the mustard in a small bowl, add the vinegar, then whisk it together. Make sure to whisk in the olive oil afterwards so that it emulsifies into a dressing.

Take all of the sliced ingredients and place them in a bowl with some parsley and dress with a little of the grain mustard vinaigrette you made earlier.

Toss the salad carefully then plate it up. You can drizzle a little more of the dressing over the salad to finish off your starter.

Smoked game works really well in salads at any time of the year and here, the fresh flavours of the apple and spring onion marry well together with the meat. I have used a Cox’s apple for this recipe but one of my favourites would be a Russet as the yellow flesh and the sweet honey flavour work well with the smoked meat

Recipe from Feathers – the Game Larder by Jose Souto