Roast Pigeon Recipe with Confit Legs and Red Wine Sauce
This may look and sound like a swanky dish, but this roast pigeon recipe is deceptively simple and, apart from the cooking of the crown (which takes 15 minutes), can be made in advance.
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 502kcal
Ingredients
- 2 Oven-Ready Pigeons
- 1 tablespoon Coarse Sea Salt For salting the legs
- 1 Orange Zest Only
- 250-300 g Duck Fat
For the Red Wine Sauce:
- 1 Small-Medium Banana or Echalion Shallot 35g
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 35 g Butter 2 tablespoon
- 1 Sprig Fresh Thyme
- 375 ml Red Wine ½ of a bottle
- 1 tablespoon Sherry Vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Marmite
- 12 Juniper Berries
- 175 ml Beef Stock ¾ Cup
- 1 teaspoon Cornflour
Instructions
- Remove the legs from the pigeon and set them aside, then clean the cavity, leaving the pigeon crown. The process for doing this is exactly the same as a chicken, only much smaller. I have attached a video (Below these instructions) that shows you how I prepare a chicken for reference.
- Zest the orange.
- Place the pigeon legs in a small bowl and add the orange zest and coarse sea salt. Mix to coat, then refrigerate for 8-12 hours.
- After the pigeon legs have been salted, remove them from the bowl and wipe off the salt and orange zest thoroughly with kitchen paper, then place them in a small oven-proof bowl or pan. I use a 10cm pie tin!
- Pour the duck fat over the legs and then place them in the oven and cook at 90°C or 200°F for 90 minutes.
- Whilst the duck legs are cooking, the sauce can be prepared ahead of time! Cut the shallot in half and then peel it and cut it into half-moon shapes as thinly as you can.
- Peel the garlic clove and slice it as thinly as you can.
- Melt one-third of the butter in a small-medium (24cm or 10") frying pan over a medium-low heat, and when the butter has melted, add the sliced shallot and sprig of fresh thyme and soften the shallots for 10 minutes without colouring.
- Add the sliced garlic and cook for another minute.
- Turn the heat up to high and pour in the red wine, then reduce by three-quarters; there should be 75-100ml of wine left.
- Pour in the beef stock and add the marmite, sugar, juniper berries and sherry vinegar and reduce by half. Then have a taste and add salt as required. You can set this aside now; the sauce will be finished whilst the duck crown is resting.
- Once the pigeon legs have had their 90 minutes, remove them from the oven, remove them from the duck fat and allow them to cool a little (do not throw the duck fat away). If you are making this all in one go, turn the heat up on the oven to 180°C or 350°F. You can confit the pigeon legs days in advance if you wish, allow them to cool in the fat and refrigerate them.
- Heat a heavy-based oven-proof frying pan big enough for both pigeon crowns over a medium-high heat, and when it is hot, add 1 tablespoon of the duck fat you used to confit the pigeon legs.
- Add the pigeon crowns and skin side down until nicely browned all over, then flip them skin side up and place them in the oven and cook at 180°C or 350°F for 10-12 minutes. You are looking for an internal temperature of around 52°C or 125°F. Once the pigeon is cooked, remove it and place it on a chopping board covered with foil for 5 minutes to rest.
- Whilst the pigeon is cooking in the oven strain the red wine sauce into a small (15cm or 6") saucepan and reheat gently.
- Heat the pan that you cooked the pigeon crowns in over a medium-high heat.
- Whilst the pigeon is resting, mix the cornflour with 1 teaspoon of cold water and then mix it in with the sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes until it has begun to thicken.
- Sear the skin side of the confit pigeon legs for 60-90 seconds to get a nice colour.
- Carve the pigeon breasts from the crown; they should be nice and pink.
- Finally, whisk the remaining cold butter into the sauce and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 502kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 403mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 14g
