Down at the butchers, buying meat to make a bollito/stock, I couldn’t resist spending £2.50 on a pigeon as I’d never cooked one. I’m glad I did (though my girls were a little less glad). Here’s what I did:
Took the legs and the breast off (which is dead easy to do) and put them to one side in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil and a crushed clove of garlic while I chopped half a small onion (v small dice, about 2 tbsp). Then got the frying pan nice and hot, sizzle a lump of butter in it and then fry the breasts (I fried the legs as well, but I’m not sure it was worth it).
It only takes a minute or two, though one should add a few minutes to Isa’s portion. When done, remove from pan and keep warm. Throw the onion into the pan and fry fast for a couple of mins then throw in a couple of tablespoons of our apricot brandy (we had a couple of kilos of dried apricots hanging around so, a few months ago, we put them in kilner jars with some cinnamon sticks and covered them with brandy. I tried it for the first time this Saturday as we didn’t have the straight brandy which I was intending to use — absolutely delicious).
Then pour in a little cream, mix well; arrange pigeon breast, sliced, on toast; pour over sauce. Drool, eat, etc.
Then throw the rest of the pigeon carcass into the frying pan and brown before chucking into the stock — it really adds to the stock.