Pigeons with Three Herbs on a Bed of Rice

Name: Pigeons with Three Herbs on a Bed of Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: For 2 or 3 people
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 570 ml/1 pint/2½ cups game or chicken stock, or water; 570 ml/1 pint/2½ cups game or chicken stock, or water; 1 shallot, finely chopped; Salt; Freshly milled pepper; 225 g/8 oz/1 cup red Camarguais rice; 3 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and marjoram; 3 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and marjoram; 56 g/2 oz butter; 1 thick slice of smoked streaky bacon; 2 plump oven-ready wood pigeons; 2 plump oven-ready wood pigeons; 3 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and marjoram

Preparation info

For
2 or 3
people

Difficulty
Complex
Ready in
1 hr 25

Appears in

The Rice Book

By Sri Owen

Published 1993

About

This recipe is taken from Geraldene Holt’s Recipes from a French Herb Garden. Her version uses brown rice; I cooked the same dish with what was for me a novelty, red rice from the Camargue. There is more about this red rice.

Ingredients

2 plump oven-ready wood pigeons
3 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and marjoram
56

Europe
France
Mediterranean
Spicy

Method

Make sure the pigeons are clean and have no down or feathers on them. Tuck a sprig of each herb into the body cavity of each bird.

Melt the butter in a cast-iron casserole and cook the bacon and shallot for 2 minutes. Add the pigeons, and turn them over in the butter until they are browned all over. Transfer them to a plate and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the rice into the