Harvest Your Own: Tips and Tasters Recipe

recipe by Brad Fensonphotos by ACA, Cassandra Hewitt

At the 2024 Taber Pheasant Festival, Harvest Your Own proudly presents cooking tips with Brad Fenson at the Tuesday evening Tips and Tasters event. This exclusive gathering, limited to just 30 attendees, offers great advice from a renowned wild game chef, as well as a chance to taste some of his culinary creations, including the Pulled Pheasant Quesadilla.

Didn’t get your ticket this year? Don’t delay next year! Watch out for tickets going on sale on Alberta Conservation Association’s (ACA) website in summer 2025.

Pulled Pheasant Quesadilla

Prep: 4.25–12 hours | Cook: 25-30 minServes: 8 | kCal: 622

Eating with your hands can bring a comforting connection to your food, and a tortilla makes the quesadilla filling easy to hold. This dish offers flavours that complement the pheasant beautifully. Whether grilled, roasted or fried, pheasant can be diced or pulled to make the most of a limit of birds while enjoying wild proteins.

Ingredients

4 pheasant breasts, boneless

4 10-inch flour tortillas

8 oz. cheddar, shredded

8 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded

1 poblano pepper, roasted and sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 yellow onion, sliced thin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tbsp butter

Marinade

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup cilantro leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon, zested and juiced salt and pepper

Directions

• Combine marinade ingredients in a blender and pour over pheasant breasts in a sealable bag or container and marinate in the fridge for four hours or overnight.

• Preheat your barbecue to 400°F and grill the pheasant breasts for around three minutes per side. Remove, let cool, then dice or pull the meat.

• Roast the poblano pepper until the skin is charred, about 12 to 15 minutes, turning as required. Place into a sealed plastic bag or container to cool. Once cool, simply peel the char off and thinly slice the pepper.

• Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the peppers and onions for about five minutes till tender, giving them a sprinkle of chili powder as you go.

• Place a griddle or cast-iron frying pan over medium heat, place the tortilla, sprinkle with cheese, and add one quarter of the pheasant, pepper, and onion mixture and top with more cheese. Place a second tortilla over top and cook until the cheese melts, then flip when the tortilla is browned. Cook until the cheese is completely melted and the second tortilla is browned.

• Cut the quesadilla into quarters and serve with sour cream, salsa, or avocado.

The ultimate comfort foodfor the upland game bird hunter

For wild game recipes, how-to videos, the Harvest Your Own podcast and more, visit: www.harvestyourown.ca