Pigeon And Vegetable Casserole Recipe | Food

Gordon Ramsay

Date Published:: 12/05/2008

Watch the video of Gordon preparing this pigeon dish

Gordon throws a pigeon in the F Word pot to make a delicious, rich casserole

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 boneless wood pigeon breasts
50g pancetta, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
80g girolles, cleaned and prepped
Splash red wine vinegar
50ml chicken stock
100g baby leeks, roughly chopped
100g fresh asparagus,
100g baby carrots
100g beetroot, peeled chopped and blanched
100g broad beans, shelled
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the fleurons:

Approx 250g chilled puff pastry
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
Fresh thyme and rock salt to season

Method: How to make pigeon and summer vegetable casserole

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C.

2. To make the fleurons, roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut four 6 ½ cm discs using a plate or a pastry cutter. Cut away one side of each disc to make a crescent moon shape. Place the pastry crescents on a greased baking sheet and chill for approximately 20 minutes. Then brush with beaten egg and season with a sprinkling of rock salt and thyme. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Remove and keep warm.

3. Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a heavy based frying pan. Season the pigeon breasts and cook, skin side down, for about 3 minutes. Flip the breasts over and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes. They should feel lightly springy when pressed. Remove from the pan and leave to rest.

4. Trim the asparagus, carrots and leeks. Chop each asparagus spear and baby leek into three pieces, then blanch with the carrots in boiling salted water for 1 minute. Strain and set aside.

5. Add a little fresh olive oil to the pigeon pan. Sauté off the pancetta with the garlic and girolles for a minute or two then add the blanched vegetables. Deglaze with the red wine vinegar. Add the chicken stock and allow to simmer. Finish with broad beans and a spoonful of chopped tarragon, mix thoroughly.

6. Dish the vegetables into warm serving bowls. Slice the pigeon breasts in half and arrange four pieces over each bowl of vegetables, drizzle with olive oil and sit a fleuron on top, serve immediately.