In which case, I have a problem. I'm moving out of my flat in seven weeks (panic!) and have a freezer full of food which will have to be used before then (double panic!). I managed to get away with using up a pheasant by using a cunning combination of the particularly rainy period we had a fortnight ago, plus a slightly lighter recipe: Diana Henry's Georgian tea-and-grapes one from Food from Plenty. That still left me with two pigeons. With the boy away this weekend, and my strong belief that a little bird is the perfect food for one, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to use one up.
This is my summery way of using a rich meat like pigeon. It's warm, and requires some use of a cooker, but not so much that you can't feel comfortable doing it on a warm summer evening.
Pigeon, Fennel and Raspberry Salad
1 pigeon
1/2 bulb fennel
small handful of radishes (maybe 6)
handful of walnuts or hazlenuts
handful of raspberries
handful of salad leaves - watercress is perfect
walnut oil
a light, sweet vinegar - I used white balsamic, but cider or sherry would work too
First, finely slice up your fennel and radishes. Tip into a bowl, then chop up the nuts and add them, plus around half of the raspberries, which you've torn slightly. Drizzle lightly with the oil and vinegar (perhaps a tbs of each), toss, and set aside.
Remove the breasts from the pigeon (notes on this later), then fry for just two or three minutes on each side; they should still feel fairly squishy as you want them to be rare on the inside. Remove from the heat and leave to sit for five minutes.
Once the pigeon breasts have rested, slice them thinly, then toss with the salad together with the leaves. Tip onto a plate, top with the remaining raspberries, and a little drizzle of some more walnut oil.
Removing breasts from pigeons: the easiest thing to do is to buy just the breasts, or to get a butcher to do this for you. I had a whole pigeon, so that wasn't an option, but it really is very simple to remove them yourself. There's a good video here (ignore the feathers!) - start at 1.45. The basic idea is just to make a slice along one side of the breastbone, then gradually hack your way down the ribcage until you get the whole thing off, then repeat on the other side. You'll find the breasts are really quite happy to come away from the bone in one piece; I've found before that after the initial cut, you can do the rest almost entirely with your bare hands.
