Woodpigeon recipes?
Discussion
Just been out and bagged a few woodies and was wondering if anyone has any decent recipes for them? I've already de-breasted them so there's no chance of making stock and only have 6 breasts as I'm a crap shot! 
Usually I just pan fry them, slice them and then have them in a salad but after seeing that girl on the recent Masterchef win with a woodpigeon dish I thought I'd see if anyone has any advice. So.....any advice?
(Google hasn't brought up any recipes that I fancy other than one with bacon and black pudding.)
Usually I just pan fry them, slice them and then have them in a salad but after seeing that girl on the recent Masterchef win with a woodpigeon dish I thought I'd see if anyone has any advice. So.....any advice?
(Google hasn't brought up any recipes that I fancy other than one with bacon and black pudding.)
One of my favourite accompniments with dark meat game is on a bed of puy lentil/ mire poir mixture. with wild mushrooms mixed in.
recipe from the deep recesses of my mind (i think it was originally a Valentine Warner recipe that i adapted) is something like:
Very finely chop onion garlic carrot celery. fry off some bacon lardons and then soften the veg in the fat. add puy lentils and then fry for a min or so. add enough water to cover lentils then simmer until done.
Reduce mixture to a rissoto like consistancy then fry off wild mushrooms and add to the mix. season the mixture with salt pepper and then a splash of cider/ white wine vinager to lift it a bit (could also add a teaspoon of dijon?) add in some chopped parsley and thyme if you want. [Edit] also add a nob of butter to help with the ooze.
fry off the pigeon breasts to rare/ medium rare. rest then add resting juices to lentil mixture. serve the sliced pigeon breasts ontop of a generous helping of the lentil mix.
recipe from the deep recesses of my mind (i think it was originally a Valentine Warner recipe that i adapted) is something like:
Very finely chop onion garlic carrot celery. fry off some bacon lardons and then soften the veg in the fat. add puy lentils and then fry for a min or so. add enough water to cover lentils then simmer until done.
Reduce mixture to a rissoto like consistancy then fry off wild mushrooms and add to the mix. season the mixture with salt pepper and then a splash of cider/ white wine vinager to lift it a bit (could also add a teaspoon of dijon?) add in some chopped parsley and thyme if you want. [Edit] also add a nob of butter to help with the ooze.
fry off the pigeon breasts to rare/ medium rare. rest then add resting juices to lentil mixture. serve the sliced pigeon breasts ontop of a generous helping of the lentil mix.
Edited by Pete Franklin on Friday 19th November 16:36
Ooh, I have some lentils in the cupboard that I always look at and think 'hmmmm, what on earth do I do with those?'. That does sound like a pretty nice way of doing them as well.
Pigeon on toast though.....hmmmm....I did think of doing them on toasted ciabatta somehow, similar to a roast beef baguette. Interesting that both your recipes involve mushrooms, I wouldn't have considered them myself, always thinking that they need something fruity to accompany them.
Pigeon on toast though.....hmmmm....I did think of doing them on toasted ciabatta somehow, similar to a roast beef baguette. Interesting that both your recipes involve mushrooms, I wouldn't have considered them myself, always thinking that they need something fruity to accompany them.
In the end I went with Pete's recipe. I have to admit it's the first time I've cooked with lentils and was really very pleasantly surprised. They were really good when done with the diced bacon, carrot, onions, celery and garlic. I'll be doing that again in the future! 
Still think I'd like to try it with something fruity next time but I did enjoy this recipe. Cheers Pete!
Edit: Never tried hanging pigeon, I always prefer preparing game when it's fresh for some reason.
Still think I'd like to try it with something fruity next time but I did enjoy this recipe. Cheers Pete!
Edit: Never tried hanging pigeon, I always prefer preparing game when it's fresh for some reason.
Edited by simonej on Sunday 21st November 19:10
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