Pigeon with roasted parsnip
A very autumnal dish with pigeon breast, potatoes and parsnips.
How can we reduce the pigeon population? By eating them! Pigeon breast is very high in iron and b-vitamins and low in cholesterol. It's also a very local and seasonal meat. Get it from your farmer's market, if you are not able to find it, you can substitute it with liver.
Preparation
Start by preparing the vegetables:
peel the parsnips and potatoes and cut into similar sized cubes.
Put on a baking tray, add the sunflower oil and salt and mix with your hands, so the oil covers most of the veggies.
Bake in a 180C (gas mark 5) oven for around 20 minutes.
At which point you start making the pigeon dish.
Peel and slice the onion. Slice the mushrooms.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry at medium heat until these are softened too.
Transfer to a plate.
In the same frying pan, melt a knob of butter and fry the pigeon breast on both sides for around 2 minutes (each side).
Add the mushroom/onion mixture, the white wine and the ketchup and saute (cook slowly) until the wine has reduced and the pigeon breast are still a little bit pink in the middle. If you like it well-done, just cook a little longer.
The oven vegetables should also be ready now.
So, ready to serve!
Info on pigeon: it really is not as weird as it sounds! The flavour is stronger than beef, but much milder than liver. Yet it still is very nutritious, so you don't need as much and therefore it's relatively cheap.