Mannablog - Food In South Devon

Those of my generation will remember Dasterdly and Mutley’s interminable and always fruitless pursuit of “the Pigeon” back in the day and I have a fond memory of Pigeons being dropped off at the house by friends of my dad and me and mum trussing them in the porch.  (“Writing that has just reminded me of the word “truss” which I haven’t used in a while, but it’s got a lovely ring to it, hasn’t it”. ) 

The pigeon’s we got hold of today came for Jilly’s Farm Shop in Dartmouth and were shot by Jilly’s brother.  I don’t know what the RSPB’s view on the health of the pigeon population is but they seem like a very successful species to me, I see dozens when I’m walking the dogs, probably more than any other bird other than rooks.  If that is the case then a small number taken for food should be very sustainable, and certainly popular with farmers.

As you can see for this dish Holly has hacked the breasts off with a rather rustic looking knife (she said it made it feel more authentically like an Algerian peasant dish).  I hope the rest is being boiled up for soup or something.  The recipe for Algerian Braised Pigeon is below and this link http://bit.ly/1g8HNr will take you to an excellent video called pigeon impossible on YouTube if you have 6 minutes to spare.

Always check you wild pigeon for lead shot of course.

Algerian Braised Pigeon:     

• 4 whole  pigeon breast, skinned
• a good slosh of olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• I clove garlic
• 1/2  red chilli, chopped
• 1tbsp quince paste
• 1 teaspoon South Devon Chilli Farm Chilli Jam
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tin chickpeas
• chopped coriander
• 250ml chicken stock
• salt and pepper

1. Gently soften the onions and garlic in the olive oil along with the cinnamon, chilli and cumin for 5 minutes.
2. Add the quince paste, chilli jam and 205ml chicken stock, cover and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes
3. Add the chickpeas and the pigeon breast and continue to simmer for a further 20 minutes, adding a little more stock if it looks like it’s drying out.
4. Served with a little chopped coriander.  We ate it with potatoes but cous-cous would give it and even more authentic North African touch.   This dish was so delicious that I spontaneously announced to Holly that enjoyed every mouthful and that it would have worked equally well as a vegetarian dish by leaving out the pigeon altogether and using vegetable stock.