The Yellow Door's Simon Dougan - wood pigeon with puy lentils
- Simon Dougan gives us a recipe for wood pigeon with puy lentils, lamb's lettuce and roasted hazelnut dressing from his new book "The Yellow Door, our story, our recipes"
First Course
Pan seared Wood Pigeon with Puy lentils, lamb's lettuce & roasted hazelnut dressing
Having been brought up in the countryside as a child, and having a father who was and still is a keen huntsman, I have been taught to appreciate and respect wild animals. So I would encourage all who read this book to give game a chance. I know that I would rather eat a pigeon or any game bird that has had a very good life living wild and eating natural food, than consuming some unfortunate battery chicken that has been unable to function or behave normally in a overcrowded growing facility.
Serves 4
4 Young Woodpigeon fillets
Splash of Olive Oil for frying
25 g Irish Butter
Sprig of thyme leaves chopped
Salt & freshly milled black pepper
200g cooked Pui lentils
Small bunch of lamb lettuce
Dressing
25g hazelnuts roughly chopped
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon hazelnut oil
½ tablespoon
1. Prepare the lentils as per recipe instructions
2. Prepare the dressing by firstly dry trying the chopped hazelnuts in a sauté pan until lightly coloured about 2 minutes.
3. Place the cooked hazelnuts into a bowl and mix in the rest of the dressing ingredients, season to taste and set aside.
4. Now that your lentils are cooked cover with a lid to retain heat and set aside.
5. Heat a sauté pan on medium – high heat add a splash of Olive Oil and sear the fillets on both sides, now add the butter over the fillet as they cook, allow the fillet to cook for 3 – 4 minutes they should sill be medium rare.
6. Remove from the heat and allow the fillets to rest for 5 minutes before assembling the dish.
7. Place the Pui lentils in the centre of your four warmed plates; arrange the lamb lettuce around the lentils. Now cut the pigeon fillets at a 45 degrees angle into three slices and arrange on top of the lentils. Spoon the dressing over the sliced pigeon fillet and around the plate, serve immediately.
Dish Prepared By: Simon Dougan
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