By Jenny Nguyen – foodforhunters.com
Here is a new twist on BBQ Chicken Pizza — BBQ Pheasant Pizza! The pheasant came from Nebraska, a gift to us from family, so we wanted to do something different with it – pizza and wild game came to mind.
I referred to The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook on how to make basic pizza dough, but you may use whatever recipe you like or buy ready-made crust. In addition to juicy, grilled pheasant breasts, we baked the pizza with lots of gooey fresh mozzarella cheese, sautéed red onion, smoky barbeque sauce, scallions for a touch of color and fragrant fresh cilantro. We hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Ingredients:
– pizza crust (homemade dough, dough mix or ready-to-bake crust)
– breasts of 1 pheasant
– salt, enough for light sprinklings
– 1/2 cup barbeque sauce, divided
– 1/4 cup pasta/pizza sauce
– 10 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese
– 4 to 5 green onions, white and light green parts chopped
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil
– quarter of a red onion, thinly sliced
– 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
– red pepper flakes, to taste
Directions:
– If using homemade pizza dough or a dough mix for crust, prepare ahead of time and follow directions. (Click to view this recipe at foodforhunters.com for the pizza dough used and more photos!)
– Run pheasant breasts under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Use a very sharp filet knife to remove the breasts from the bone.
– Place pheasant breasts into a small container. Lightly sprinkle salt on all sides. Then squirt some BBQ sauce to coat all over.
– Prepare the grill.
– To make the pizza sauce, combine 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup of pizza/pasta sauce.
– Slice fresh mozzarella thinly. Set aside.
– Chop white and light green parts of green onion.
– Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté sliced red onion, stirring often for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft and translucent.
– Once grill is ready, cook pheasant breasts for about 5 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through. DO NOT OVERCOOK! Baste with the rest of the BBQ sauce.
– Preheat oven to 500 degrees F., or as directed by your dough or crust instructions.
– Lay crust out on a cookie sheet.
– Lightly sprinkle some salt over flattened dough. Then spread BBQ/pizza sauce mixture over it, saving some to use as a topping as well.
– Then top pizza with sliced mozzarella cheese, pheasant, the sautéed red onion and chopped green onion. Drizzle leftover BBQ/pizza sauce mixture over the top of pizza.
– Then bake in an oven on the lowest rack for about 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust turns golden brown.
– Garnish with chopped cilantro and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!