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Pigeon Recipies from BBC Chefs


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Pigeon Recipes

 

Tomato bruschetta with pigeon and bacon

 

Serves 1-2

 

 

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

 

By Alex Mackay

From Ready Steady Cook

 

Ingredients

100g/3½oz butter

2 pears, peeled, cores removed, sliced widthways

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp demerara sugar

2 tsp vegetable oil

4 pigeon breasts, skin removed

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp smoked bacon lardons, fried until crisp and golden-brown

To serve

4 thin slices baguette, grilled until crisp and golden-brown

4 small handfuls baby watercress leaves

Method

1. Heat half of the butter in a pan over a medium to high heat. When the butter is foaming, add the pears. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then stir well to coat the pears in the butter.

2. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved and caramelised and has coated the pears.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil and the remaining butter in a separate frying pan. When the butter is foaming, add the pigeon breasts and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. Add the thyme and cooked bacon and continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the pigeon breasts are browned on all sides and cooked to your liking and the bacon has warmed through.

5. To serve, place one slice of grilled baguette into the centre of each of four serving plates. Place a handful of baby watercress leaves on top of each. Spoon over some of the pears, then the pigeon and bacon mixture.

 

Salad of pigeon and caramelised leeks

 

Serves 1

 

 

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

 

By Antony Worrall Thompson

From Ready Steady Cook

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 pigeon breast

1 tbsp olive oil

5 baby leeks

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp olive oil

For the dressing

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

55ml/2fl oz olive oil

Method

 

1. Brush the pigeon breasts with the oil and place in a hot pan over a medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, turning once. Remove from the heat and leave to rest.

2. Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Add the leeks, the oil and the honey and cook for five minutes, turning occasionally to evenly brown.

3. For the dressing, mix the red wine vinegar and olive oil in a bowl.

4. To serve, place the leeks in the centre of a plate. Slice the pigeon breast and place on top, drizzled with the dressing.

Braised Iranian style pigeon with rhubarb

 

Serves 4

 

 

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time over 2 hours

 

By Neil Perry

From Saturday Kitchen

 

Ingredients

 

2tsp olive oil

4 x 500g/1lb 2oz squabs (baby pigeons), cut into serving pieces

2 red onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

salt, to taste

2 tbsp whole black peppercorns, crushed

1 tbsp ground turmeric

6 tbsp tomato and spice jam

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

2 tbsp chopped mint leaves

6 sticks cinnamon, lightly toasted

large pinch saffron, soaked in a little warm water

250ml/8½fl oz lime juice

chicken stock

10 stems rhubarb, cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces

6 fresh dates, pits removed, sliced

100g/3½oz dried chickpeas, soaked for 1 hour then cooked until just soft

 

Note: This recipe originally has Australian measurements. Equivalent measurements are as accurate as possible.

Method

 

1. Heat the oil in a large lidded casserole. Brown the squabs all over, then add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the turmeric and fry for one minute.

2. Add the tomato and spice jam, honey, herbs, cinnamon and saffron. Add the lime juice and enough chicken stock to cover all the ingredients, then bring to the simmer and cook, covered, for about two hours.

3. Add the rhubarb and simmer a further five minutes.

4. To finish, add the dates and cooked chickpeas, warm through, and serve with rice.

 

 

Note: Tomato and spice jam is sweet and savory jam often used in Middle Eastern cooking. It combines tomatoes with cinnamon, honey, onion, garlic and ginger.

Pigeon pie with sour green tiger tomato pickle and Cumberland sauce

 

Serves 4

 

 

Preparation time over 2 hours

Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

 

By Mark Broadbent

From Great British Menu

 

Ingredients

 

For the tiger tomato pickle

20 small green tiger tomatoes, or other green tomatoes, skinned and sliced

sea salt

1 tsp pickling spice

1 bay leaf

225ml/8fl oz good quality white wine vinegar

225g/8oz caster sugar

For the Cumberland sauce

1 blood or Seville orange, finely sliced zest and juice, plus extra zest for grating

1 Amalfi or regular lemon, finely sliced zest and juice, plus extra zest for grating

4 tbsp good quality ruby port

1 x 2.5cm/1in piece root ginger, finely grated or chopped

4 tbsp redcurrant jelly

1 tsp mustard powder

For the pigeon pie filling

4 wood pigeons (with livers and hearts), skin removed

4 squab pigeons (with livers and hearts), skin removed

200g/7oz pork back fat (lardo)

200g/7oz piece unsmoked streaky bacon from the belly

1 tbsp duck fat

good pinch allspice

good pinch freshly ground black pepper

salt, to taste

For the hot water crust pastry

butter, for greasing

800g/1lb 12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

10g/½oz table salt

200g/7oz lard

500ml/18fl oz water

egg wash, made with beaten free-range egg yolk and a little milk

To serve

celery cress, mustard cress or onion cress

Method

 

1. For the tomato pickle, lay the tomato slices in a shallow dish, sprinkle generously with sea salt and leave for 1-2 hours to allow them to begin to soften and to extract some of their liquid.

2. Place the pickling spice and bay leaf onto a small square of muslin, gather the muslin together to make a bag and tie with string. Heat the vinegar in a medium non-reactive pan with the spice bag. Stir in the sugar and a little salt and when the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about five minutes, until the mixture has formed a thin syrup. Set aside and leave to cool. When it has reached room temperature, discard the spice bag and pour the syrup over the tomatoes. Allow to infuse for two hours.

3. For the Cumberland sauce, blanch the sliced orange and lemon zests briefly in boiling water in small separate non-reactive pans, then refresh in iced water and drain. Pour the port into another pan and simmer until reduced by half. Add the orange and lemon juices to the pan and reduce down by half again, then add the ginger and blanched orange and lemon zests. In another small pan, heat the redcurrant jelly until melted, then whisk in the mustard powder. Stir the jelly and mustard mixture into the port and fruit reduction and set aside to cool.

4. For the pigeon pie filling, cut the breasts and any leg meat from the pigeons. Chop half the pigeon meat into chunks and mince the other half. Chop half the livers and hearts into chunks and mince the rest. Do the same with the pork back fat, then cut the bacon into chunks. In a large bowl, combine all the minced meats and offal with the duck fat, allspice and pepper and salt, to taste. Set aside while you make the pastry.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease four individual pie moulds.

6. For the hot water crust pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Repeat twice. Place the lard and water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and fold in the sieved flour, mixing in with a wooden spoon to make a soft dough. Place onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a workable dough. Cut off one third for the lids, wrap in cling film and reserve. It's important the pastry is used while still warm, so immediately roll out the pastry very quickly and use to line the moulds. Roll out the reserved pastry to make four lids, then cut a small hole in the centre of each using a small plain piping nozzle. (You may have pastry left over, but it is easier to work with if you have a bit more than necessary.)

7. Add the meat filling to the lined moulds, dampen the top edges of the pastry-lined moulds with water, lay the lids over the filling and pinch the edges together to secure. Brush the lids with the egg wash. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until completely cooked through and the pastry is golden-brown. To check when the pies are done, stick a metal skewer into the centre of each pie through the hole in the lid. If it feels hot when removed, the pies should be cooked.

8. While the pies are cooking, finely grate about half a teaspoon each (or to taste) of the extra orange and lemon zest into the Cumberland sauce to give it a fresh zing.

9. To serve, turn the warm pies out onto serving plates and spoon a pool (or place a pot) of Cumberland sauce next to it. Lift some of the tomato pickle out with a slotted spoon to drain off the liquid and place a spoonful onto each plate. Scatter with celery cress.

Moroccan pigeon pie

 

Serves 10-12

 

 

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 1 to 2 hours

 

By Denis Lawson

From Taste of My Life

On this page

 

Method

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Ingredients

 

110g/4oz butter, plus extra, melted, for brushing

450g/1lb onions, grated

8 pigeons, gutted and cleaned (or 6 poussins, halved)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

½ tsp saffron, infused in a little boiling water

1 tsp ground cinnamon

50g/2oz sugar

600ml/1pt chicken stock

6 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying

300g/11oz blanched almonds

8 free-range eggs, beaten

450g/1lb ready-made filo pastry

1 free-range egg yolk, beaten, for egg wash

To serve

3-4 tbsp icing sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Method

 

1. For the filling, melt 60g/2oz of the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the grated onions and stir over a low heat for 5-6 minutes.

2. Add the pigeons and cook for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally.

3. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper, the parsley, coriander, the saffron in its water, the cinnamon and half the sugar and stir well.

4. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, or until the pigeons are cooked and tender, stirring from time to time and adding water if necessary.

5. Remove the pigeons from the pan and allow to cool. Remove the pigeon meat from the bones and shred coarsely.

6. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a small pan, add the almonds and fry, stirring constantly until golden-brown. Remove the almonds with a slotted spoon and drain for a few minutes on kitchen paper. Crush the almonds coarsely in a mortar, or chop in a grinder for a very short time (they must remain coarse and not be ground to a paste).

7. Place the crushed almonds into a bowl with the remaining sugar and two tablespoons of the oil from the pan.

8. Return the pan in which the birds were cooked to the heat and simmer the cooking liquid for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the liquid has reduced to about 375ml/13fl oz.

9. Adjust the heat to very low and add the beaten eggs. Cook over the low heat, stirring all the time until the sauce thickens.

10. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.

11. To assemble the pie, oil a 30cm/12in round baking tin. (Remember that once the filo pastry is out of the packet, you must keep it under a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out.)

12. Layer five sheets of the filo pastry into the tin, brushing each one with melted butter and laying them at angles across each other, fanning them around the tin so that about 10cm/4in of each filo sheet hangs over the edge of the tin.

13. Then add two more sheets of filo across the base, buttering each sheet as you add it to the base. Trim any edges that are too big for the tin.

14. Cover the base with the egg mixture and then lay two more sheets of pastry over the egg mixture, trimming off any excess around the edges.

15. Spread the reserved shredded pigeon meat over the pastry, then top with another two layers of buttered filo pastry.

16. Sprinkle the almond mixture over the top and cover with the remaining sheets of filo, buttering each sheet before adding the next layer. Fold any excess pastry over the top to cover the pie, gently pushing the sheets down. When cooked, the sheets will curl upwards.

17. Brush the top of the pie with melted butter, then brush with beaten egg yolk.

18. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp.

19. To serve, turn out the pie onto a large dish. Sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon in a lattice pattern.

 

Pigeon breast with red wine gravy, roast leeks and wild mushrooms

 

Serves 4

 

 

Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

 

By Oliver Rowe

From Urban Chef

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Method

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Ingredients

 

For the marinade

4 garlic cloves, sliced

½tsp picked thyme leaves

6 black peppercorns, crushed

4 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil

8 wood pigeon breasts

For the gravy

2 tbsp sugar

200ml red wine

2 sprigs thyme

6 juniper berries, lightly crushed

For the roasted leeks

12 baby leeks, trimmed

1 tbsp butter

For the wild mushrooms

handful wood ear mushrooms, sliced

15-20 wild brown closed-cup mushrooms, sliced

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

2. Combine the garlic, thyme, black peppercorns and rapeseed oil in a small bowl. Using a sharp knife, score the pigeon breasts' skin lightly and rub in the marinade - leave for at least 20 minutes.

3. To make the gravy, combine the sugar and a few drops of water in a smallish, very clean saucepan and place over a high heat to caramelise. Once the sugar melts and has gone a dark golden brown, pour in the red wine. Add the thyme and the juniper berries. Cook the sauce until it is reduced by two thirds - this will take about 12-15 minutes. Season to taste, strain and keep warm.

4. Place the leeks in a saucepan of boiling, salted water and blanch for 10 seconds. With a pair of tongs, remove the leeks from the boiling water and plunge into a bowl of ice-cold water. When they have cooled, drain the leeks well.

5. Place the leeks in an ovenproof saucepan or baking sheet with a **** of butter. Transfer to the hot oven and cook until tender - this should take about 10-15 minutes.

6. Heat a griddle pan until hot. Season the pigeon breasts with salt and freshly ground pepper and place on the hot griddle pan. Cook for just a few minutes on each side until cooked to your liking, then remove from the heat and set aside in a warm place for at least five minutes.

7. For the mushrooms, heat a small frying pan. When hot, add the rapeseed oil and fry the garlic until golden brown. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until softened. Be careful - the wood-ear mushrooms can pop and splutter quite ferociously.

8. Serve the pigeon with the leeks, mushrooms, and a drizzle of the red wine gravy.

Vinegar-glazed pigeon breast on crisp potato cake with peas and spring onions

 

Serves 4

 

 

Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour

Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

 

By Brian Turner

From Saturday Kitchen

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Method

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Ingredients

 

For the pigeon

6 crowns of pigeon (the two breasts attached to the bone; ask your butcher to prepare these)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

50g/2oz butter

1 tbsp vegetable oil

pinch powdered mace

For the sauce

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

150ml/¼ pint chicken stock or pigeon stock

25g/1oz butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped

1 tbsp fresh chervil, chopped

For the potato cake

450g/1lb potatoes, peeled, cut into cylinders, then finely sliced into discs

110g/4oz clarified butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the peas

8 spring onions

50g/2oz butter

225g/8oz peas, cooked

Method

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.

2. For the pigeon, season the pigeon crowns well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then rub each crown all over with the butter and mace and set aside for 30 minutes.

3. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan until hot, add the oil and sear the pigeon crowns on each side, until golden-brown all over, then place into the oven and roast for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and leave to rest in a warm place for five minutes.

4. For the sauce, pour out the excess fat from the pan, then add the shallots and fry over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the sherry vinegar and white wine vinegar. Bring to the boil and reduce the liquid by half.

6. Add the stock and boil again to reduce the liquid by a third.

7. Add the butter and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

8. Meanwhile, carefully cut the pigeon breasts away from the bone.

9. Strain the sauce into a clean pan and use half to baste the pigeon breasts.

10. Add the parsley and chervil to the remaining sauce in the pan and stir.

11. For the potato cake, increase the oven temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

12. Place the potatoes into a bowl and add the clarified butter and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

13. Heat four 15cm/6in diameter ovenproof frying pans and arrange the potato slices into the base of the pans, so that they cover the base of each pan, overlapping each other slightly. Repeat for three layers of potato discs in each pan, then transfer to the oven to cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden-brown and cooked through. (You can use one larger pan to create a single, larger potato cake. NB: this may take longer to cook.)

14. For the peas, place the spring onions into a pan of boiling water and blanch for one minute. Drain the spring onions and refresh in iced water, then drain again.

15. Heat a frying pan, until just warm, then add the butter, peas and blanched spring onions. Cook for two minutes over a low heat.

14. To serve, carefully turn the potato cakes out into the centre of each of four plates. Place a spoonful of the peas and spring onions into the centre of each potato cake. Place three pigeon breasts on top of each pile of spring onions/peas and pour the remaining sauce over.

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