Salmis of Pigeon

Trim the broccoli shoots, cut lengthwise in half, and put to one side. Prepare the celeriac  Recipe   ready for cooking. Peel the baby onions, coat with a sprinkling of olive oil and put to one side. Cut and excess fat off the pancetta and cut into lardons. Trim the mushroom stocks, peel them and cut into slices through the stalk.

Paint the pigeons with olive oil, season all over with salt and fresh black pepper and put into an ovenproof dish. Roast the pigeons in the oven at 400°F/200°C/Reg6 for fifteen minutes. Take out the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes or so.

Cut the complete sides off the pigeons including breast, leg, thigh and wings. Remove the wings, roughly chop up the remaining carcasses, add to an ovenproof pan. Sprinkle over a tablespoonful of olive oil and put in the oven at 400°F/200°C/Reg6 for about fifteen minutes turning half way through.

Put the pigeon carcasses and wings into a saucepan, pour on a glass of red wine and a glass of cognac if used, followed by a pint/600 ml of chicken stock. Add some thyme, a peeled onion and a scraped carrot. Simmer the saucepan over a lowish heat semi-covered for about 30 minutes.

Take the saucepan off the heat, and drain through a sieve to discard the bones etc. Put the stock back over the heat, reduce to about ½ pint/300 ml, take off the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile quickly fry the pancetta lardons in a little oil but don't not over brown. Add the baby onions to a small pan in a little olive oil and lighly brown  Picture  . Start cooking the celeriac, and steam or oven cook the broccoli.

Put the pigeon joints into a casserole, add the reduced stock, the onions and pancetta, and cook inthe oven for about ten minutes in the oven at 350°F/180°C/Reg4. Quickly take out the pigeon and onions, take a tablespoonful of the cooking stock m, mix with a tablespoonful of cornflour and re-add the cooking liquid. Cook for a few minutes and then add the pigeon and onions.

Put the broccoli, pigeon and vegetables and celeriac on to serving plates, and serve  Zoom  .