Over the past few years, I have come to find my favorite traditional dish to manipulate is eggs Benedict. Customarily, eggs Benedict is a toasted English muffin topped with a slice of Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and dressed in a hollandaise sauce. The rich, creamy dish is perfect for making minor or even drastic changes to the meal’s landscape. I have made eggs Benedict with trout, salmon, venison, elk, and now, pheasant. I have added tomatoes, asparagus, leafy greens, peppers, and more. The hollandaise can be altered simply by the inclusion of different herbs such as rosemary, tarragon, thyme, or sage.
Traditionally used in Spanish and Mexican cuisine, chorizo is a cured sausage packed with mouth-watering spices. Characterized by its vibrant red color, chorizo is usually chopped pork heavily seasoned with smoky paprika and spicy garlic before being stuffed into casings for curing. This chorizo-style pheasant sausage is quick and easy to make but still has the spicy and smoky goodness found in traditional pork chorizo. The pheasant sausage is simply ground pheasant breast and leg meat mixed with a chorizo-style seasoning. Since pheasant is such a lean meat, pork fat could be added to the mixture but is not necessary. In this recipe, the sausage still turned out light and juicy without the addition of pork or beef fat.
The final chorizo pheasant eggs Benedict dish evokes Southwest flavors with the combination of the smoky paprika and chili powder in the pheasant sausage patties with the sweet and tangy Hatch chile béarnaise sauce. The silky and creamy béarnaise sauce adds a delicate balance of smoky and sweet to the dish, but also a little kick of heat from the Hatch chiles. Enjoy!
Chorizo Pheasant Eggs Benedict with Hatch Chile Béarnaise
Serving Size: 6 servings
Time to make: 20 minutes
Ingredients: Chorizo Pheasant Sausage
- 1 lb ground pheasant
- 3 tablespoons chorizo seasoning*
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
*Ingredients for chorizo seasoning –
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons cumin
Ingredients: Hatch Chile Béarnaise
- 1 cup melted butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup 505 Southwest Hatch Chile Salsa (or other canned Hatch chile)
- Pinch of salt to taste
Ingredients: Eggs Benedict
- 6 eggs
- 6 English muffins
- Medium tomato
- Medium avocado
- Cilantro
Instructions: Chorizo Pheasant Sausage Patties
- To make the chorizo seasoning for the sausage patties, mix all the ingredients (garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, salt, oregano, and cumin) in a small bowl. Set aside the 3 tablespoons for the sausage and store the rest in an airtight container.
- For the sausage, take a pound ground pheasant, which can be ground from the breast and the leg meat, and mix in a medium-sized bowl with 3 tablespoons of the chorizo seasoning and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
- Form the sausage patties to about an inch thick.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of water to the hot pan.
- Cook the pheasant sausage patties over medium-high heat for 6 minutes per side, or until the center of the meat registers 160 degrees.
Instructions: Hatch Chile Béarnaise
- To a blender, add the egg yolks and pulse a few times to break them up.
- Melt a cup of butter in the microwave and let cool for a few minutes. The butter should still be warm for mixing into the sauce, but not so hot that it cooks the eggs.
- With the blender running on low, slowly stream in the melted butter to the egg yolks. Continue mixing on low for a few minutes.
- Add the tablespoon of vinegar and the 1/2 cup of Hatch chiles to the blender.
- Season with salt and let mix for a minute more.
- Keep the béarnaise covered in the blender while working on the rest of the meal. This will keep it nice and warm.
Instructions for Assembly of Pheasant Eggs Benedict
- Poach the eggs. [There are several techniques for poaching eggs. I like to do the “water tornado.” Bring a large pot of water, about 3 cups, to a gentle boil. When the water is starting to boil, use a spoon to stir a gentle water tornado. Once the water is moving around the pot, lightly ease the eggs in the water. Allow to cook for 2 and a half minutes in the water then remove with a slotted spoon.]
- Toast the English muffins and arrange them open-faced on a plate.
- Top the muffin with a thin slice of tomato, a chorizo pheasant sausage patty, and a few thin slices of avocado.
- Gently ease the poached egg on top of the stack, taking care to not break the yolk.
- Drizzle a few tablespoons of the Hatch chile béarnaise sauce over the entire dish. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a few dashes of paprika.
- Enjoy!
