Wood Pigeon

We hope you’re feeling open-minded this week, because we’re taking two pretty familiar ingredients into somewhat unfamiliar territory. The first is wood pigeon – a lovely meat which has been popular in Britain for at least a century, and probably much longer.

You will need:
2 pigeon breasts
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried garlic powder
10 green peppercorns
100g black pudding
2 slices of sourdough bread or brioche
Compote:
2 stalks of rhubarb
1 teaspoon of honey
1 small red onion
Dressing:
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt and
Small dribble of truffle oil
2 tablespoon of olive or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Serves 2

Combine the pigeon breasts in a large glug of oil, dried oregano, dried garlic powder and green peppercorns and leave to marinate for anything from 20 minutes to 2 hours

To make the rhubarb compote:
Heat a glug of oil in a pan on a medium high heat
Add the chopped red onion with a pinch of salt and colour for a minute
Add the chopped rhubarb and stir them in, followed by a glug of water to soften them followed by the honey
Leave it to simmer gently
Leave until the rhubarb is soft enough for a spoon to go straight through it

Crumbled black pudding:
Break the pudding into chunks onto m baking tray lined with balking foil
Bake for 15 minutes at 200C

Dressing:
Start with honey, then add balsamic vinegar and stir together to loosen the consistency
Next, add a pinch of salt and a small dribble of truffle oil, then olive or vegetable oil
Then add the dijon mustard
Check for seasoning

To cook the breasts:
Use a fair amount of oil, and a high heat
Rub off some of the herbs
Add them to the hot pan and fry for 1 and a half to 2 minutes a side until just pink in the middle
Leave to rest for for couple of minutes
Serve on top of the sliced bread with the accompaniments