Roast pigeon with pickled blackberries, parsnip puree, black pudding, apple and potato rosti

Pigeon is a meat that’s often overlooked. I think people tend to associate it with the scrappy town variety that you see scavenging for chips, which I agree is anything but appealing. However the pigeon I am talking about is country variety; corn feed, plump breasted and iron rich in flavour. The meat has to be eaten pink otherwise it turns as tough as old boots so treat it as you would liver. Pigeon can also take strong flavours; for this recipe I’ve chosen sharp, sweet, sour and earthy notes which all complement the meat, and each other, to create a well-balanced dish.

Serves: 2

Difficulty: Medium

Time: 1.5 hrs

Ingredients

For the pigeon

  • 2 wood pigeons, oven ready
  • 1 sprig of thyme
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp grape seed oil
  • 20g butter

For the pigeon jus

  • Legs and off-cuts from above pigeons
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • ½ onion, roughly chopped
  • 20g dried mushrooms
  • 1 sprig of thyme
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 200ml white wine
  • 10 juniper berries, lightly crushed
  • ½ orange, zest only
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 20g butter

For the pickled blackberries

  • 100g blackberries
  • 50ml white wine
  • 50ml port
  • 50ml raspberry vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
  • 50g dark brown sugar
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • 2 bay leaves

For the parsnip puree

  • 2 parsnips, peeled and diced
  • 1 white onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 200ml whole milk
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 juniper berries, lightly crushed
  • 30g butter

For the potato rosti

  • 2 large floury potatoes
  • 20g butter
  • 1 tbsp grape seed oil

For the sides

  • 2 – 3 turnips (small/medium)
  • 2 thick slices of black pudding
  • 2 rashers of smoky bacon, cut into lardons
  • 1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced into wedges
  • 3 tbsp grape seed oil
  • 20g butter

Roast pigeon with pickled blackberries, parsnip puree, black pudding, apple and potato rosti

Pigeon is a meat that’s often overlooked. I think people tend to associate it with the scrappy town variety that you see scavenging for chips, which I agree is anything but appealing. However the pigeon I am talking about is country variety; corn feed, plump breasted and iron rich in flavour. The meat has to be eaten pink otherwise it turns as tough as old boots so treat it as you would liver. Pigeon can also take strong flavours; for this recipe I’ve chosen sharp, sweet, sour and earthy notes which all complement the meat, and each other, to create a well-balanced dish.

Method

For the pigeon

  1. Set the oven to 180°C (fan).
  2. Prepare the pigeon by removing the legs. Reserve these for the jus.
  3. Heat an oven proof pan on the hob and add the oil. When hot, add the crowns skin side down and brown. Add the garlic, thyme and butter and baste the crowns before putting them in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before carving the breasts off the crown.

For the pigeon jus

  1. Brown the pigeon legs in a saucepan with oil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and add the carrots and onions, allow them to colour and soften. Finally add the chicken stock, dried mushroom and thyme and simmer gently for 45 minutes to an hour.
  2. Meanwhile, place the wine into a small saucepan with the juniper berries, bay leaf and orange zest and reduce the liquid by half. Set aside.
  3. Combine both sauces and strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Reduce the jus further over a high heat until it starts to thicken. Whisk in some cold butter right at the end and keep warm until ready to serve.

For the pickled blackberries

  1. Bring the pickling ingredients (everything but the blackberries) to the boil in a small pan. Place the blackberries in a bowl and pour the pickling liquor over the top. Leave them to steep for 30 – 60 minutes.

For the parsnip puree

  1. Heat the milk gently in a pan with the bay leaves and juniper berries. Once the milk reaches a simmer remove from the heat and leave to cool while you prepare the vegetables.
  2. Cook the parsnips and onions in boiling water until soft, then drain.
  3. Strain the milk through a sieve.
  4. Place the vegetables in a blender with two thirds of the milk and blend until smooth, adding more milk as required.
  5. Heat the butter in a small pan until it turns brown and begins to smell nutty (this is called a beurre noisette). Add to the puree and blend again. Season to taste.

For the potato rosti

  1. Peel and grate the potato, place in a clean tea towel (or kitchen paper) and squeeze to remove the excess moisture. Season with salt.
  2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and place two metal rings into the pan (I tend to use cookie cutters approx. 8cm in diameter) if you don’t have any rings then you can shape the rostis by hand before adding to the pan. Place the grated potato into the rings and push down adding more grated potato as you go until they are about an inch thick. Cook on a medium heat for 4- 5 minutes then remove the ring and add the butter in to the pan. Flip the rosti over and cook for a further 4 mins. after this time keep turning the rosti over after every minute until they are soft in the middle and brown and crispy on the outside. Keep warm.

For the sides

  1. Peel and quarter the turnips, toss in the oil and season. Roast in the oven at 180°C (fan) for 30 – 40 mins until tender.
  2. Cook the bacon lardons in a frying pan until brown and crispy. Add the butter and apples and toss. Cook for 2 minutes until starting to soften. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
  3. In the same pan that you cooked the bacon and apples add your black pudding and cook until crisp on both sides. Set aside.

To plate

  1. Start with a generous spread of the puree. Add the rosti to the plate and place two pigeon breasts on top. Add the turnips, strained blackberries, apples with bacon to the side of the pigeon and crumble the black pudding over the top. Serve the jus in a jug and pour at the table.

pigeon_blackberries

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