Warm pigeon salad with beetroot, orange, celeriac and a red wine dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 pigeon breasts - use the rest of the birds for stock
1 orange - zest into strips and orange segmented
110g celeriac & lentils
A small selection of salad leaves
2 medium beetroots
Grape seed oil

Celeriac sautéed with lentils and walnut oil

1-tablespoon olive oil
½ onion finely chopped
½ carrot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 bay leaf
150g brown lentils, washed
½ celeriac, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
227ml chicken or pigeon stock or water
2 tablespoon freshly chopped chives
1 tablespoon walnut oil
Salt & pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté onion, carrots, garlic and bay leaf for few minutes. Tip in the lentils and celeriac and add salt. Pour in stock and bring to a boil, Cook over a medium heat stirring frequently for about 20 minutes. Stir in the herbs, walnut oil and pepper to taste - set aside.

Beetroot Confit

2 beetroot, medium sized
55ml olive oil
Cook the beetroots whole on a bed of rock salt in the oven for 2 hours at
160c°c/ 325°/gas 3

Red wine orange dressing

½ bottle of red wine, reduced by half. Place the juice of 1 orange and zest in a pan and reduce by half, add the red wine and reduce by half again set aside and allow to cool. Whisk the grape seed oil into the mixture. Season to taste.

METHOD

Season the pigeon breast and pan-fry gently for 3 minutes. Remove and rest. Arrange the celeriac and lentils in the centre of a plate with the salad leaves . Carve the pigeon breasts and place on top of the salad , add the juices to the vinaigrette. Pour a little vinaigrette over the pigeon breasts and around the salad and serve.