A delicious little starter during the hunting season

Ingredients

• 4 fresh breasts of wild pigeon
• 50-60 g Serrano Ham
• 100g lentils of different colours
• 3-4 shallots
• 1 carrot
• A little celery
• 1 leek
• 1 big tomato
• 1 sour apple
• A bit of walnut oil
• Apple vinegar
• 1/4 litre dry red wine
• 2 cl Cognac or Brandy
• A bit tomato puree
• Sugar
• 1 cup of deer stock
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

The Sauce:

1. Separate the breasts from the wild pigeons.
2. Chop the bones and saute them in oil.

Add:

1. 1 bay leaf
2. a little ground pepper corns
3. 5-6 juniper berries
4. the carrot
5. one teaspoon of tomato puree .
6. Pour a bit of red wine and the deer stock over it.
7. Let it simmer for 2-3 hours.
8. Pass that through a sieve.
9. Let the stock reduce at moderate temperature.
10. Add a small amount of Balsamic vinegar to the sauce.
11. Mix it all together carefully with a little cold butter.

The lentil salad:

1. Wash the lentils and boil them in salted water until they are al dente.
2. Drain the lentils and put into a bowl.
3. Add finely chopped leek and diced apple.
4. Finally add the “Tomato Concassèe”.
5. For the dressing, combine apple vinegar, walnut oil, salt, pepper and a little sugar
6. Pour over the salad.
7. Season the pigeon breasts and fry them in brown butter for 1-2 minutes. Wrap them in ham and bake them for 4-6 minutes in the oven.
8. Remove them from the oven and let them rest. They will still be pink in the middle.

Serving suggestion

• Arrange the lukewarm salad in the middle of a pretty starter plate.
• Slices the breasts and place them with the cut on top.
• Drizzle the Balsamic vinegar around the pigeon breasts.
• Garnish with a few leaves of Frisee salad.