Pigeon Casserole In Red Wine Sauce Food

SLOW-COOKED PIGEON

Steps:

• Peel and chop the onions, carrots and garlic, halve the pigeons, then pick and finely chop the parsley.
• Heat the oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat, then sauté the onion, carrot and garlic until softened. Add the pigeon and brown for 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour in and stir well.
• Add the wine and stock, season generously, then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, stir in the parsley, then simmer with the lid on for 4 hours. Check on it now and again, adding an extra splash of water, if needed.
• When the pigeon is nearly ready, use a fork to shred the meat off the bone - it should fall off easily. Serve with potatoes or crusty bread - be careful of the bones!

PHEASANT STEW

Steps:

• Marinate the pheasant in wine, bay leaves, and thyme for a day or two in the refrigerator.
• When you're ready to cook, cook the bacon over low heat in a heavy, oven-proof pot, ideally a brazier or a Dutch oven. When it's crispy, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat up to medium.
• Pat the pheasant pieces dry and brown them in the bacon fat. Take your time, and do this slowly but surely. It could take 15 minutes. Remove pheasant pieces to a bowl as they brown.
• Brown the onion and mushrooms. Once they're just turning color, add the carrots and garlic. Cook another 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle the flour over everything and stir to combine. Cook this, stirring often, until the raw-flour taste cooks away, about 10 minutes.
• Pour in the brandy, and stir it in to incorporate. The stew will become very thick. Add the wine from the marinade, and stir that in, too. Return the pheasant to the pot, along with any juices that accumulated. If you need it, add enough broth to cover everything by an inch or so. Stir in the herbs and add salt to taste.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for at least 90 minutes, then start checking to see if the leg/thighs are tender. You want them almost to the point of falling off the bone.
• When the meat is tender, remove it, along with the mushrooms and onions, and put them in a bowl. Put foil over them to keep them warm.
• Turn heat up to high in the pot. Boil down the liquid by half or until it thickens to the point of being a sauce or loose gravy. I like to put everything through a food mill's medium plate for a smooth and silky sauce, but that's not strictly necessary. You could strain it to get the loose bits out if you wanted.
• Return the vegetables and meat to the sauce and serve at once.

POT-ROASTED PIGEONS IN RED WINE

Steps:

• Wash pigeons inside and out in cold water, pat dry and stuff each with 2 sage leaves, a pinch of salt and some cracked pepper. Choose a heavy-based lidded pot that will fit all four pigeons comfortably (they need to be turned to brown all over). Place on medium heat, add the butter and oil. When foaming, add remaining sage leaves and the four birds. Brown them all over, seasoning with salt and pepper before adding the carrot, onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook for a couple of minutes more until lightly golden and add half the wine. Turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid, slightly askew. Keep the butter and wine bubbling so the birds are half roasting and half steaming. There should always be about 2cm of liquid in the bottom and you will need to add more wine or water as you go. Cook for 35-45 mins, turning the birds at intervals, until the meat is tender. (Push the thighs with a fork - meat should come away from the bone.) Remove from heat and allow to rest for few minutes. Put the pigeons on a warm serving plate and return pot to the heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water to the sauce and bring to the boil, stir the sides and bottom to remove any tasty brown bits and pour the juices over the squabs. To serve Serve with gratinated fennel.

PIGEON CASSEROLE IN RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Fry the diced bacon for 2 minutes, add the butter (I used 1oz of butter and a dash of olive oil) and the pigeons and brown quickly on all sides.
• Remove and add the chopped vegetables, herbs, salt, freshly ground pepper and flour. Mix well.
• Replace the birds, pour on the stock and the wine, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 1 1/2 hours, until the birds are tender.
• Serve with red currant jelly.

ONE-PAN PIGEON BREAST WITH SPINACH & BACON

Steps:

• Heat half the butter in a large frying pan, then fry the bacon for 5 mins until starting to crisp. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon. Fry the bread in any leftover bacon fat for 1 min on each side until crisp and golden, then transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Season the pigeon generously with salt and pepper, and heat the remaining butter in the pan until sizzling. Sear the pigeon for 2-3 mins on each side until golden, then transfer to a chopping board and leave to rest.
• Return the fried bacon to the pan and turn up the heat. Scatter over the mushrooms and fry for 3-4 mins until softened, then add the spinach, season and splash in the vinegar. Turn the heat up to high and stir-fry until the spinach is wilted. Divide the spinach mixture between the fried bread slices. Finely slice the pigeon breasts, arrange over the spinach and serve.

SAUSAGES IN A RED WINE SAUCE WITH DUCHESS POTATOES

Steps:

• For the Duchess potatoes, preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
• Arrange a bed of salt on a baking tray. Place the potatoes on the salt and bake in the oven for an hour.
• For the sausages in red wine sauce, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
• Heat the dripping in a casserole with a lid. Add the sausages and fry them to colour well all round and then remove from the pan.
• Add the leek and onion to the pan and fry gently to colour them. Add the tomatoes, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, wine and stock.
• Bring to the boil and add the sausages back in, place a lid on and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and remove the sausages and keep them warm. Remove the thyme and the bay leaf and discard. Heat the dish on the hob to reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency.
• Blend the sauce using a hand-blender and then pass it through a fine metal sieve to make it smooth. Set aside and keep warm.
• Heat a frying pan and add half of the butter and one tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms. Fry until lightly coloured, then add the ham and fry to colour it too. Remove the ham and mushrooms from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
• Add the rest of the butter and the oil to the pan and heat. Once hot, add the bread and cook until golden-brown, then add it to the mushrooms and ham.
• To finish the Duchess potatoes, cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the middles, then pass through a potato ricer into a clean bowl.
• Beat in the egg yolks and apple purée. Season with a little nutmeg, salt and pepper.
• Preheat the grill to high and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
• Put the potato mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle. Pipe a border of the potato around the edge of each serving plate. Put the plates under the grill to dry slightly.
• Beat egg with a little water, then brush over the potato border, then colour quickly under the grill.
• To serve, share the sausages between the plates, placing them in the middle of the potato border, pour the sauce over the sausages, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with Duchess potatoes around the edge of the plate.