Pigeon with Ceps and Beans

The day before cut the beasts and legs off the pigeons to provide two or three per serving. Chop up the carcasses and the remaining spare pigeon and use as the meat for making a good stock  Recipe  . Wrap up the breasts in some foil and keep in the fridge until, the following day.

Take the pigeon breasts out of the fridge, season well with salt and fresh black pepper on both sides and put to one side. Carefully clean the ceps and then cut into slices along the length of the cep. Make a beuree manie with a teaspoonful each of butter and flour. Open the tins of pulses, wash in a sieve with cold water and put in a saucepan. Top and tail the spring onions,,,,, remove the outer skin and cut into thin slices.

Warm up the stock, take out three or four tablespoonfuls into a bowl, stir in the beurre manie and add back into the stock. Season well with salt and pepper to make a good gravy, put to one side. Put some butter into a pan over a medium heat, add the sliced ceps season with fresh white pepper and turn until just cooked  Picture  .

Put the beans over a medium heat with a tablespoonful of butter and cook for five minutes or so. Meanwhile soften the spring onions in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add the onions to the beans and season well with salt and pepper.

Quickly brown the pigeon breasts in a an ovenproof dish on both sides, pour on a small glass of white wine, add some rosemary and finish off in the oven 350°F/180°C/Reg4 for no more than five minutes - the breasts need to be pink.

Reheat the beans, gravy and ceps. Spoon some beans on to serving dishes, put on top the ceps and pigeon breasts, spoon around some gravy and serve  Zoom  .