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a recipe for pigeon risotto

6/10/2012

7 Comments

 
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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.
7 Comments
Robin Betts
6/10/2012 14:17:04

Wow, this sounds like just my kind of nosh. This recipe looks to make perfect sense, and I can't wait to try it, I was always taught how important it was, after beating cheese and butter into a risotto, to pop the lid on and leave it to stand, off the heat, for a bit? I think it helps develop its creamy, unctuous quality.

Hmm... perhaps there's room for fried sage leaves in the next generation of this one? As a garnish? In the salad which didn't happen this time? Perhaps fry the breasts in the resulting flavoured oil? Sorry, this one has really got me going... Thanks.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
6/10/2012 14:30:21

Fried sage leaves would be a great addition!

I'd always understood it's more the beating of the butter and cheese into the rice that's important for the emulsification, but maybe a little rest helps too.

Reply
Joanne Mudhar link
11/10/2012 13:57:36

It is always a pleasure to read a recipe that makes proper use of bones for stock! That looks delicious :)

Reply
The Skint Foodie
26/10/2012 17:03:10

Thanks Joanne!

Reply
Cathy Pryor
26/10/2012 16:20:25

There's a gentleman on Facebook who has commented that he made this recipe using partridge - I'd love to ask him how it turned out but can't, since he's not an FB friend, but I have a couple of partridges in the freezer I need to use up so am going to give it a go. They're not as strong-tasting as pigeons is the only thing but I bet it will still be good.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
26/10/2012 17:04:16

I'm sure it would work fine Cathy; let me know how it turns out.

Reply
Cathy
29/10/2012 16:31:25

Right, that earlier attempt at posting did not work. Delete please! The page is playing funny tricks on me. What I meant to say: made it with the partridge tonight - delicious - enough to take to work tomorrow for dinner too :) The partridge worked really well.


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  • blog
  • about
  • how
  • recipes etc.
    • recipes
    • skint 'takeaways'
    • mid-week meals for the time-poor
    • cheese boards
    • coffee
  • spending
  • spotify playlists
  • links
  • contact me