The Finnish Chefs Association's game recipes
Grilled whitefish and risotto with chives
Serves four
650 g whitefish fillet
olive oil
gourmet salt or ground sea salt
250 g risotto rice
½ ℓ chicken soup
40 g onion
½ dl oil
½ dl white wine
2 dl double cream
30 g grated Parmesan cheese
fresh chives
salt
ground white pepper
Chop the onion. Wash the rice, brown the chopped onion and rice in olive oil, add the white wine and then the chicken soup in three parts to the rice. As the rice is cooked it absorbs liquid and the mixture becomes denser. Add the cream, grated cheese and chopped chives. Season with salt as needed.
Remove the fat from the whitefish fillet with a knife and dry the fillet with a paper towel. Cut the fillet into serving portions and coat them lightly with olive oil using a pastry brush. Heat the frying pan, add a dash of olive and the gourmet salt to the pan. Grill the fish quickly until cooked starting with the side with skin. You will obtain the best results by using a cast iron frying pan and heating the pan until it is sufficiently hot.
Serve the grilled whitefish, risotto and chives with thin slices of fresh cucumber seasoned with dill and fresh lemon.
Game stew with mushrooms
Serves four
600 g roast (e.g., elk or red deer)
30 g butter
salt and black pepper
3.5 dl bouillon
game fond
40 g bacon
1–2 spring onions (scallions)
1–2 cloves of garlic
100 g autumn mushrooms (e.g., chanterelles or trumpet-shaped
chanterelles)
1.5 dl double cream
40 g Norwegian brown cheese, unseasoned processed cheese or blue
cheese
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
dark Maizena instant thickener
Cut the meat into cubes and brown them in butter in a frying pan. Lightly season them with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry the sliced bacon, the cubed spring onions and garlic. Heat water and mix in the bouillon. Do not make the bouillon too salty as cheese also contains salt. Place the ingredients into a pot and stew until the meat is tender. Add cream, ground rosemary leaves and cheese. Bring to a boil and add the instant thickener to the sauce, mixing all the while until it thickens. Add fried chopped mushrooms and season with game fond as needed.
Serve the game stew and mushrooms with celery-potato puree and cranberry jelly.
Oven-stewed pheasant and apple-cream sauce
Serves four
1 ready-to-cook pheasant
4 slices of bacon
2–3 spring onions (scallions)
½–1 dl dry apple cider or apple juice
½ ℓ double cream
2 apples
3–4 sprigs of fresh thyme
olive oil
salt
black pepper
Season the pheasant whole with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Wrap the pheasant in bacon and place it in an oiled oven casserole. Place the oven casserole in an oven at 225 degrees Celsius and allow to brown well. Add chopped spring onions into the casserole and cook in an oven for about 10 minutes. Peel the apple and remove the core. Add the sliced apple, thyme, cider and cream into the oven casserole. Continue stewing in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30–40 minutes until the pheasant is tender. Season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed.
Serve with rowan berry jelly and boiled fingerling potatoes, for example.