Sous Vide Pheasant Breast with Cranberry Sauce

1. If you have skin-on pheasant breasts, you can do one of two things with the skin: leave it on or remove it and cook it separately. This recipe will also work with skinless pheasant breasts.

Crispy Skin:

1. If cooking the skin separately, carefully remove it from the meat. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the skin out on the parchment paper and season with salt. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and place another sheet pan on top to weigh it down. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until skin is crisp.

Sous Vide Pheasant Breasts:

1. Preheat sous vide machine to 145°F. Season pheasant breasts with salt and pepper. Place ½ tablespoon of butter and 1 thyme sprig on the underside of each pheasant breast. Place 2 pheasant breasts per vacuum sealer bag. Tip: if your bags have a diamond pattern on one side, place the underside of the pheasant breasts (with the butter and thyme) on the patterned side. This will make the top side a bit prettier when it's done. Place in water bath for 45 minutes.
2. Remove bags from water bath and cut open. Remove pheasant breasts from bags and discard thyme sprigs. Pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan and melt. Once pan and butter are hot, place pheasant breasts in pan. Cook 2 minutes per side. Rest 10 minutes. Slice for serving.

Mashed Potatoes:

1. While pheasant is cooking, prepare mashed potatoes.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in potatoes and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
3. While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Once butter starts bubbling, add in sage leaves. Cook until crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Remove sage leaves to a paper towel. Continue cooking butter until browned, about 20 minutes.
4. Once potatoes are tender, place them in potato ricer, working in batches. Rice the potatoes into a large mixing bowl. You can rice them twice for extra creamy potatoes.
5. Once butter is browned, strain it with a fine mesh strainer into the mixing bowl. Add in half and half (a little at a time - you might not need all of it), nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix on medium-low speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Assembly:

1. To each plate, add mashed potatoes. Top with sliced pheasant breast and cranberry sauce. Serve with fried sage and crispy skin.