Recipe: Delicious Warm Pigeon Salad

This one’s for you if you fancy upping your game in the kitchen, literally… Growing numbers of people are starting to make game a regular part of their diet – partly because of the variety and interest it brings, and partly because it’s a healthy, sustainable food choice. If you’d like to experiment with using it in your cooking, but don’t know where to start, specialist Wild and Game’s Cook with Game starter pack is designed with newcomers in mind. It includes a selection of ready to cook meat, along with a copy of Talking Game, a beautiful cookbook that’s packed with inspiring recipes. Including the likes of this delicious and super simple salad. Enjoy.

Ingredients

A knob of butter | A glug of olive oil | 1 pack Wild and Game pigeon breast fillets | 50g smoked bacon, chopped | 2 tbsp red wine | 100ml beef stock | 1 tsp honey | 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly | A bag of mixed salad leaves | 10g pine nuts, toasted | 100g blue cheese, such as Stilton | A handful of red grapes, cut in two

Method

  1. Heat the oil and butter in a frying or saute pan and cook the pigeon breast fillets on a medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side, turning once. Remove and set aside to rest (keep warm).
  2. Fry the bacon in the pan until crunchy. Remove and set aside.
  3. Add the red wine to the pan and sizzle for a minute, then add the stock, honey and redcurrant jelly.
  4. Bubble for a few minutes until the mixture is syrupy.
  5. Place the pigeon on top of the salad leaves. Top with bacon, pine nuts, crumbled cheese and grapes.
  6. Drizzle with the sauce and serve immediately.

Priced at £35, the starter box includes 6 partridge breasts, 4 pheasant breasts, 8 pigeon breasts and a 500g pack of venison mince. To order, see wildandgame.co.uk