Breast of pigeon with Armagnac jus

Name: Breast of pigeon with Armagnac jus
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: a little duck or goose fat, or vegetable oil; 25 g chilled butter (optional); a little duck or goose fat, or olive oil, or clarified butter; 1 medium onion, carrot and stick of celery, roughly chopped; 1 bay leaf; splash of Armagnac; 3 plump young pigeons, cleaned

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Table in the Tarn

By Orlando Murrin

Published 2008

About

French pigeons are young, juicy, fresh and bred for the table - like American squab. In the south-west, every house worthy of the name has a pigeonnier, either built in (as at the Manoir) or detached.

Ingredients

3 plump young pigeons, cleaned

Europe
France
Main course
Mediterranean
Gluten-free

Method

Using a small sharp knife, cut the breasts off the pigeons, keeping the skin on (just as you would remove a chicken breast, but on a smaller scale). Flatten with the palm of your hand, season well all over and refrigerate covered until ready to serve.

Discard any liver and entrails in the carcases (I find they make the sauce taste too strong) and cut the remainder (skin and bones) up as