a recipe for pigeon risotto

I was pretty pleased last Saturday when I managed to grab the last pigeon (£1.99) at the new, and rather marvellous, butchery Flock and Herd -  the opening of which being yet one more reason why the gastroscenti are increasingly referring to Peckham as 'The Ludlow of The South East'.

Mind you, as I'd only gone in for half a dozen eggs, when I got back home I had to think what to do with the little bugger - ideally with (as I didn't fancy going out again) what I had in the kitchen already. This risotto is the result. Although pigeon is available all year round, the gamey stock, red wine and porcini all go to make this a lovely and deeply satisfying autumnal dish.

I think that if I was making this for two or more people,  I'd serve the risotto by itself, followed by the pigeon breasts in a salad with bacon and walnuts. Or something.

serves one

for the pigeon:
1 wood pigeon
a blob of tomato purée
olive oil
10g dried porcini
100ml red wine
200 ml chicken stock

for the risotto:
300ml chicken stock
a knob of butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
80g vialone nano rice
a pinch of dried sage
a knob of butter
10g or so of grated pecorino

for the pigeon breasts:
a splash of olive oil
a knob of butter

salt + black pepper

Remove the breasts from the pigeon and set aside. Break up the rest of the pigeon, smear with a little tomato purée, drizzle with a little olive oil and roast for 15 minutes in a 220C/200c fan oven. Transfer to a pan with the dried porcini, 100ml of red wine and 200ml of chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the liquid has reduced to about 100ml. Strain this into a bowl. Strip what little meat there is from the carcass, then chop this meat and the porcini into tiny dice and return to the wine/stock reduction.

In a small pan, bring the chicken stock to a very gentle simmer. In a separate pan, soften the onion in a melted knob of butter. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice in the butter. Add the sage and stir. Now add a ladleful of chicken stock, stirring pretty much all the time until the stock has been absorbed by the rice. Repeat this until you've used about half of the stock. Now add the pigeon/porcini/stock and stir. Then continue adding the remaining chicken stock until the rice is just cooked (you might not need to use all of the stock). Season to taste and finish off by adding another knob of butter and grated pecorino and beating into the rice.

About the time you are adding the pigeon stock to the rice, heat a small frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter. Season the pigeon breasts and fry for about 4 minutes, turning several times. Remove from the pan and rest them while you finish off the rice. Spoon the risotto into a deep plate, then slice the pigeon breasts and arrange on top.