Serves 4

1 cock pheasant
1 medium sized onion
6 cloves
12 juniper berries
2 heaped tablespoons fresh thyme stripped from the stalks
1 tablespoon pine kernels
1 teaspoon hot mango chutney

Method

Cut the top off the onion, excavate a hole and fill it with the juniper berries.  Stud the onion with the cloves and push it into the cavity of the pheasant, together with the neck and liver.  Rub the pheasant with oil and  place it in a lidded roasting tin.   Cook slowly in the simmering oven of the Aga, or in a gas or electric cooker with the heat set very low, for about 4 hours. 

To make the stuffing, extract the onion from the pheasant and discard the cloves.  Chop the onion and 8 of the juniper berries finely, mix in the thyme, pine kernels, chutney and a small knob of butter.  Place the mixture in a small ovenproof dish and either keep hot or re-heat when required.

Transfer  the pheasant to the top oven of the Aga, or increase the heat, remove the lid from the roasting tin and  roast for a further 20 minutes or so until browned.  Transfer the bird to a serving dish and keep hot.  
Make the gravy by adding a little sherry to the pan juices and, using a very fine sifter (I use a small  coffee strainer ), sift about a tablespoon of flour a little at a time into the juices, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. 

The flesh of the pheasant will lift easily from the bone.   Serve with the gravy and the stuffing handed separately.

Reproduced from 'The Empty Larder' by kind permission of the author, Judy Malleson