How Pigeon Should be cooked.

Okay, after my rant below, here is how to cook pigeon, it must be pink and not over cooked otherwise it will be tough and tasteless.  It only needs 2 or 3 minutes depending on how thick the breasts are, then a couple of minutes to rest.

I have cooked pigeon three times since the below post and I am falling it love with it as a meat, it should almost melt in your mouth.  Thanks to my father in law who brought round the wood pigeon that flew into his window.

I cooked this with a pea puree and chard, sorrel and pancetta salad. I was a bit lazy with the puree as I didn't put it though the tamis to get all the lumps out.  Pea puree is actually sweater and tastier than normal peas.  Cook the peas in half cream, half milk until soft, then whiz in a blender and put though a tamis or fine sieve to remove all the lumps. Then, heat when needed. It's also good for freezing and keeps well.

Venison fillet encrusted with fennel and cumin, pea puree boulangere potatoes end sweet potato mash

Shetland Scallops on Eddoe Mash with Spicy Pea Purée

I have been getting a request for a scallop dish, so to appease the masses, here is a wee number I came up with. This time I went down the Gordon Ramsay route of cutting the scallops in half which makes them easier to cook rather than gambling on getting too rubber or being a little raw in the middle. Actually if you get really good fresh scallops you could eat them raw in the middle.  Last weekend I had sushi with some scallops and the quality of these Shetland Scallops via Eddies Seafood market in Marchmont, you can guarantee, these were swimming in the the sea yesterday. They were soft, sweet and succulent.

The pea purée was put through a tamis which made a huge difference to the finesse and quality and I added some chilli and paprika to spruce it up a bit. This is the first time I have cooked Eddoe, which is a nutty flavoured root vegetable rather like a potato. I gave incorrect instructions to my sous chef (Lindsey) and asked her to peel them first. Actually you should cook them first before peeling. I am not sure if I like the eddoe but I think it is more of a taste thing rather than the cooking method, however I think I'll try again and cook them properly next time, maybe not with sweet scallops but more of a spicy Caribbean dish to suit their origins.  Still, it is worth an experiment and now I know what they go with for next time.