Pigeon Breast, Puy Lentils, Winter Veg

I've written before about how highly I rate the meat of the wood pigeon. Basically, if you like venison, you're bound to like pigeon. Flavoursome, plentiful, cheap, healthy - there's really nothing not to like. Here, I've teamed it with puy lentils (flavoursome, plentiful, cheap, healthy.... sounds familiar!) which I love. They soak up flavour brilliantly provided you dress them while they're still hot, and their earthy flavour goes really well with the richness of the pigeon breast. You might want to serve two breasts each, although we found one was satisfying enough, with plenty of other flavours going on. You could even serve it without any meat, perhaps with a chunk of crusty bread to mop up the lentils.

For the Pigeon Breast:

1 or 2 Pigeon breasts each

Olive oil

A knob of butter

Salt & black pepper

For the Puy Lentils:

75g Puy lentils per person

1 Bay leaf

A few parsley stalks

Half an onion

(For the dressing):

2 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp English mustard

1 tsp Honey

Lemon Juice
1 Garlic clove, crushed
Salt & black pepper

For the Winter Veg:

2 Carrots, peeled and sliced into medium chunks
Half a celeriac, peeled and diced
Half an onion, sliced
2 sticks of celery, diced
30g butter
A pinch of sugar
Lemon juice
Flat leaf parsley
Kale or cabbage (optional)

1) Wash the lentils thoroughly under cold water. Put them in a pan with the bay leaf, parlsey stalks and onion, add enough cold water to cover, bring to the boil and cook for 20-30 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, shake up the dressing ingredients in an empty jar, taste and adjust as necessary. When the lentils are cooked drain them, remove the bay leaf, return to the pan and add the dressing. Set aside.

2) Put the carrots, celeriac, onion, celery, butter and sugar in a pan with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add enough cold water to cover, bring to the boil and simmer with the lid off until the water has evaporated. The carrots should be tender and buttery, and the celeriac should have collapsed into a sweet puree. Finish with lemon juice and parsley. If you're serving kale/cabbage too then boil until tender and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.

3) When you're nearly ready to serve, heat a pan on a high heat. Rub salt, pepper and olive oil on the pigeon breasts then cook in the hot pan for 4 - 5 minutes, turning every minute. Add the butter for the last minute, basting the breasts. Set them aside on a warm plate to rest for 5-10 minutes. Serve!

I hid my lentils under everything else for some reason - lentil surprise! Presentation has never been my strong point.....