Wood pigeon with cauliflower purée and game jus recipe
An autumnal game dish, rich with brandy and veal stock.
Divide as two portions if you want to have this as a starter. Otherwise, the specified ingredients are per person.
The crown of a pigeon refers to the area of its breast (ask your butcher or game stockist if you're not sure), and a mirepoix is a mixture of vegetables used as a flavour base. Remember to cook the pigeon crown in an ovenproof pan, as you'll need to put it into the oven after colouring on the hob.
Ingredients
For the garnishes- 0.25 cauliflower, diced
- 1 tbsp raisins
- 50 ml brandy
- 1 tsp mixed seeds
- 0.2 radicchio (adjust amount to your liking)
- 1 garlic clove, finely diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 dash milk
- 1 whole wood pigeon
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 0.5 carrot
- 0.5 onion
- 0.5 stick of celery
- 100 ml veal stock
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 40 mins
- Cooking Time: 140 mins
- Serves: 1
Step-by-step
- Remove the crown of the pigeon, and set aside.
- Make the mirepoix by sautéeing the vegetables for around 3-4 minutes, until just coloured. Roast the rest of the carcass with the mirepoix at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with some red wine and add the veal stock.
- Gently simmer for 2 hours to reduce, making sure to skim as much of the scum off the top as possible. This will give you a rich and shiny game jus.
- To make the garnish, toast the seeds in a pan with a drop of oil and a pinch of salt. Fry the cauliflower and the diced clove of garlic in a pan over a low heat. Add a dash of milk and butter simmer for 5 mins then puree. Add salt to taste.
- Soak the raisins in brandy for 20 mins, then place on the heat with the brandy and a little extra water. Simmer until soft then purée.
- For the pigeon: pre-heat the oven to 180C. Warm a frying pan over a medium heat. Season the pigeon with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. Colour the skin, then turn over and put the pan in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven, add thyme, rosemary, a crushed garlic clove and butter to the pan and baste the pigeon. Rest on a chopping board for 5 mins.
- Keeping the pan the pigeon was in, fry off the radicchio; this will pick up all the lovely juices in the pan. Remove the breasts from the crown, slice thinly and serve with the garnishes.
You might also like:
Pigeon breast with cider purée recipe