Autumn Wood Pigeon with celeriac puree, smoked bacon, curly kale and an apple and blackberry sauce

Autumn Wood Pigeon with celeriac puree, smoked bacon, curly kale and an apple and blackberry sauce

Serves 1


Ingredients

1 local wood pigeon
1/2 a celeriac
1 block of butter
1 bunch of thyme 
1 apple
1 handful of blackberries
100g smoked bacon lardons
Curly kale
Milk
Sugar
Red wine

Method

1. Peel the celeriac and dice. Place in a pan, cover with milk and add a knob of butter, bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Blend in a liquidiser until smooth, use a little of the cooking liquor to get the right consistency.

2. Season the pigeon with salt and pepper, stuff the bird with some of the thyme. Place in a hot pan and seal the skin, make sure you get a nice brown colour and crisp the skin, add a knob of butter and baste then place in an oven at 200c. Keep basting every 3-4 minutes, cooking time around 10 minutes depending on the size of the bird.

3. Cut the apple into quarters cut the core out and then cut each quarter in half, in a hot pan pour in the sugar and let it caramelise, stir the sugar so all caramelises equally then put the cut apple and blackberries into the caramel and mix to cover all the fruit. Add 100ml of red wine and the same of beef stock and reduce the liquid to a thicker consistency so it coats the back of a spoon.

4. Crisp the bacon lardons in a separate pan and place on some cloth to drain off the fat. Once the pigeon is cooked place on the same cloth and leave to rest, blanch the kale in a pan of boiling water and the place in a pan of foaming butter, season and serve.

More about the chef...

ryan.pngThis recipe was created by Ryan Stacey, head chef and landlord of Bourne Valley Inn - a country pub and bed and breakfast tucked away in the beautiful Hampshire village of St Mary Bourne. 

“ I will always use local produce where ever possible. Being a country pub in a small village, I think that its extremely important to support your local community in what ever way you can. I also believe that it is important to know exactly where your food has come from, whether that be the vegetables we have grown in our own allotment, the local lamb reared on the hill just behind the pub or the local ale used in our beer batter.” - Ryan, Bourne Valley Inn.