Smoked Pigeon and Beetroot Broth Pots
Kindly donated by Tim Maddems
Serves
5
Prep Time
45 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Kindly donated by Tim Maddems
Serves
5
Prep Time
45 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
These flavoursome little cups of warmth and savoury luxury are just the thing as a canape, but can easily be scaled up to make a satisfying lunch or starter.
This recipe sounds complicated because of the smoking element, and that can be a little tricky to get the hang of, but once you have it nailed, it will be well worth the minimal effort required. You can also smoke a whole batch of pigeon, and then freeze it ready for later use. If you really don’t want to get involved with a bit of hot smoking, then you can simply use a bit of lightly pan roasted pigeon instead.
Ingredients
| For the Pigeon | |
| 6 | Pigeon breasts |
| 1/2 tbsp | Salt |
| 1/2 tbsp | Sugar |
| a few, lightly crushed | Fennel seeds and Peppercorns |
| For the Soup | |
| 2, cooked | Medium beetroot |
| 1 ltr | Game stock |
| A handful | Chopped chives |
Scrub your beetroots, and then oven bake them whole and with the skin on. You can easily do this when the oven is already on for something else, and then keep them in the fridge once cooked for use as needed.
Mix the salt, sugar and spices together and then heavily season the pigeon breasts with the mixture. Don’t worry if you have some left over – it keeps very well, and you can use it for your next smoking effort. In fact, I usually make far more than I need, so I can keep some handy in the kitchen for use as and when I need it.
Leave the pigeon breasts “on the cure” for around 15 minutes, and then rinse them off and pat them dry. Leave them exposed to the air for around another 15 minutes or so to allow them to dry, then they are ready for a whizz through the hot smoker.
I like to hot smoke pigeon over a mix of oak and beech wood shavings for around 10 minutes – by which time they should be rare in the middle, cooked on the outside and gloriously Smokey – ideal for our purpose.
Chop up the beetroot into small 1/2 diced cubes, and finely chop a few chives, and then heat up your game stock and season it well.
Cut your pigeon into cubes a little bigger than the beetroot, and add this to your serving cups with a little beetroot and some chopped chives. Then top each serving cup with the hot broth, and serve with teaspoons for ease of consumption
Protein (100g) |
17.5 |
Calories (100g) |
142 |
Fat (100g) |
7.5 |
Cholesterol (100g) |
90 |
Selenium (100g) |
0.13 |