Great Recipe for Home Entertaining - Pheasant with Cranberry Peppercorn Sauce

I recently made this dish for a dinner party, and it was a huge success; succulent, flavorful, and simple! I know some don't really care for Pheasant, but with the seasonings, it wasn't at all "gamey." But if you can't bring yourself to eat pheasant, you can easily substitute a roasting chicken or turkey breast. Here is the recipe for 4 guests, as it appears in "An American Bounty":

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 whole pheasants, trussed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup dry red wine
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
2 tablespoons ruby port
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Dilute the cornstarch with an equal amount of cold water and set aside.
2. Pat the pheasants dry with paper towels and rub the skin with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavities with the thyme and bay leaves.
3. Place the pheasants on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 55 to 60 minutes, to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, or until the juices show no trace of pink when the thigh is pierced with a kitchen fork.
4. Remove the pheasants from the roasting pan; set aside and keep warm. Immediately add the wine to the roasting pan. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring; scrape the pan well to release all the browned bits on the bottom. Pour the juices into a saucepan.
5. Add the broth, cranberries, sugar, and cracked peppercorns to the saucepan and simmer over medium heat until the cranberries are very tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Stir the diluted cornstarch if necessary to recombine and add it to the sauce; simmer for 2 more minutes.
7. Stir the ruby port and butter into the sauce. Add salt to taste. Cut the pheasants in half and serve with the sauce.

I served this with wild rice and it went nicely with a Santa Ema Reserve Merlot. For presentation, this dish has beautiful color, so I simply chose to plate it on a clean white dinner plate, like Raynaud's Hommage Dinner Plate.