For 4 people
2 Bresse pigeons, 500 g, partly eviscerated
Pigeon gravy
- 400 g pigeon carcasses
- 2 cl peanut oil
- 50 g thinly sliced onions
- 40 g thinly sliced shallots
- 20 g lemon thyme
- 1 small sprig rosemary
- 2 g coarsely crushed pepper
- 1 tsp niora pepper
- 1 cognac
- 3 cl white wine
- 1 dl white port
- 4 dl brown poultry stock
Gratin stuffing
- 10 g chopped shallots
- 1 cl cognac
- 20 g foie gras cooked in a basting cloth
- 2 slices sandwich bread
Garnish
- 4 potatoes
- 150 g butter
- 100 g shelled garden peas
- 100 g shelled broad beans
- 1 carrot
- 2 gourmand peas
- Thyme flower
Pigeon
- Salt
- Pepper
- Half a garlic head
- 20 g thyme
- 2 cl peanut oil
- 50 g butter
- 20 g almond julienne
- 1 egg yolk
- 10 g flour
Draw then truss the pigeons (keep the wing tips and necks for the gravy, along with the livers for the gratin stuffing).
Pigeon gravy
In a copper sautéing pan, brown the pigeon carcasses in the peanut oil. Add the onions, shallots, thyme, rosemary, coarsely crushed pepper. Once this is nice and brown, add the niora. Flambé with the cognac. Deglaze with the white wine and the white port.
Reduce by three quarters. Cover with the brown poultry stock. Cook for 20 min, being careful to skim regularly. Filter and put through a muslin cloth. Keep the gravy so the fat is slightly separated from the juices
Gratin stuffing
Fry the livers quickly in a sautéing pan, season with salt and pepper, add the chopped shallots and sweat.
Flambé in the cognac, remove from the heat then put through a strainer with the foie gras. Pipe out onto little sandwich bread toasts. Keep in the refrigerator.
Garnish
Cut the potatoes into droplet shapes around 2 cm thick, place on a dish with the butter, season then bake in the oven at 200 °C for around 15 min until browned.
Cook 80 g of peas and 80 g of broad beans with a little white poultry stock, blend to obtain a smooth puree.
Line some pre-greased moulds 3 cm in diameter with thin strips cut from the boiled carrot.
Fill the inside with the garden pea puree, and finish with the rest of the peas, broad beans and a julienne of gourmand peas. Set aside.
Pigeon
Season the inside of the pigeons with salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. In a frying pan, brown all sides of the pigeons in a dash of peanut oil. Add a knob of butter, the rest of the garlic and thyme. Cook in the oven at 180°C for around 10 min, basting regularly; the core temperature of the fillets should be 45°C. Take the pigeons out of the oven, carefully remove the thighs and leave the breasts to rest on the bone.
Next glaze the thighs with 1 dl of pigeon gravy for around 10 min to finish cooking.
Bread the thighs, English style (soak in egg yolk and flour first), on the skin side, in the almond julienne.
Finish
Lift the pigeon breasts and place in the oven for 3 min to reheat. Season with a little niora and thyme flower. Next place three croutons of tempered gratin stuffing on each breast. Fry the thighs in a little peanut oil until the almonds are crispy. Heat the potatoes in the oven, reheat the garden pea moulds, and place one on each potato. Remove moulds. Arrange the breasts and thighs in the middle of the plates, then arrange two potatoes around them. Finish by pouring pigeon gravy on top.
