Name: Pan-Fried Breasts of Local Wood Pigeon with Elderberry Wine-Braised Salsify, Medjool Date Purée, Buttered Redbor Curly Kale and Earl Grey Juices
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Starter/Main course - Serves two
Ingredients: shavings from 2 perigord truffles; 5 ml white truffle oil; 500 ml veal stock; a little chilled butter; 4 pigeon breasts; 100 g butter; 8 curly kale leaves; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 star anise; 200 ml elderberry wine; 2 sticks of salsify; 1 teabag of Earl Grey tea; 1 tbsp sugar; 10 ml Madeira wine; 500 g king medjool dates

Preparation info

Starter/Main course - Serves
two

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr 30

Appears in

Loose Birds & Game

By Andrew Pern

Published 2010

About

THIS IS A LOVELY LOOKING DISH, ALMOST LIKE A PAINTING WITH ALL THE COLOURS TONING IN WITH EACH OTHER: THE RARE PIGEON BREASTS, DEEP PURPLE ELDERBERRY, BRAISED SALSIFY, RED AND GREEN CURLY KALE AND THE DARK, VELVETY TEXTURES OF THE DATE PURÉE.

Ingredients

For the Pigeon

4 pigeon breasts
8 curly kale leaves
100 g

Method

Braise the salsify in the elderberry wine with the star anise and cinnamon in a heavy-bottomed pan on a medium heat for approximately 40 minutes.

Cook the dates with the Madeira and a tablespoon of sugar, then blend in a food processor. Pan fry the pigeon breasts in a frying pan for 1 minute each side, then allow to rest.