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Those of you who are hunters, or married to a hunter like myself, you know those birds can make for awesome meals when prepared right. I am fully supportive of the hubs going hunting if all I ever have to see is the ready to cook meat. I will have no part in the hunting, the harvesting, any of it. If I’m going to do this, I want pheasant breasts ready to throw into a pan. Thankfully, my husband is all over this deal, so that means he brings home the birds and we get to eat tasty homemade soups, like this.
The great thing about this soup is that you can use your poultry of choice or leave it out all together! There’s enough goodness going on in this soup that it’s going to be great either way! We’ll be making it again this winter with some more of the pheasant he brought home, and will likely be doing it with turkey and chicken throughout the rest of the year.
A quick note about the gluten free thing…It’s gluten free because I use a gluten free flour in the rue and a gluten free soy sauce. If you’re not doing a gluten free diet, then by all means use regular flour and soy sauce. The measurements will be the same.
Finally, this one is another toddler approved meal and that’s great, because what an easy way to get some extra veggies in! I add chopped baby spinach for extra nutrients on top of the carrot, onion, celery and mushrooms.
If you don’t already have an Instant Pot, this recipe should be your inspiration to get one! Yes, you could sear your pheasant (or other poultry of choice) on the stove and then add everything to a slow cooker and it will still turn out good. But the pressure cooking make it turn out GREAT! And it’s all ready to eat within the hour. We love our 8 quart Instant Pot - the bigger size is a must for our family of three with big appetites. I love having leftovers to make weeknight meals easier, so always want to make the biggest batch possible when I cook up good things.
Ingredients
3 T. butter
5 carrots - peeled and chopped
4 stalks of celery - chopped
1/2 a yellow onion - chopped
8 oz white mushrooms - chopped
4 cloves garlic - minced
4 pheasant breasts - chopped into bite sized pieces (about 2 or 3 cups)
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. french bistro poultry seasoning (or your poultry seasoning of choice)
1 c. wild rice
4 c. chicken broth
1 T. gluten free soy sauce
For the rue
6 T butter
1/2 c. 1 to 1 gluten free flour
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1 large handful of baby spinach - chopped
Directions
Set the Instant Pot to the Sauté setting. Once hot, add the 3 T. butter, carrots, celery and onion to the pot. Sauté for 5 minutes stirring frequently.
Add garlic, mushrooms, pheasant, salt and bistro poultry seasoning. Cook an additional 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add rice, broth and soy sauce, stir to combine. Set to pressure cook for 30 minutes.
When pressure cook cycle is done, do a quick release of the steam.
In a small saucepan, melt 6 T. butter over medium heat.
Add the flour to the melted butter and whisk almost constantly for about two minutes.
Whisk the milk into the flour/butter mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking frequently until thickened.
Add the thickened milk/butter/flour mixture to the soup, stirring until well combined and soup starts to thicken.
Stir in chopped baby spinach.