One of the side benefits of seemingly endless hours of asphalt we trade to get to wild places is the opportunity to plot preparation for anything we’re fortunate enough to add to the cooler.
Since it’s the early season and the garden is not yet frozen, green tomatoes seemed like a great compliment for game bird. And what better sauce for simply grilled White-tailed Ptarmigan than beurre blanc, the literal translation “white butter.” Add a buttery chardonnay and it ties it all together.
I suppose if you’re lucky enough to bring good numbers of ptarmigan to hand, you could make an entree of this dish. But it’s rich enough and birds in the lower 48 are hard enough to come by, with the addition of a little wild rice it makes the perfect size appetizer. Might work just as well with Ruffed Grouse or desert quail.
Thank the asphalt for the inspiration of Grilled White-tailed Ptarmigan, Fried Green Tomatoes Beurre Blanc and some of our other creations like Pheasant Chowder.
Be sure to read about the hunt for these birds in Believers.
We’ll post our version of beurre blanc once we’ve got it perfected, bit too much lemon for this first attempt.
