Fabulous Day in the Farm Shop: Saturday 11 February!
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Fabulous Day in the Farm Shop: Saturday 11 February! |
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Doddington Estate Wood Pigeon & Fig Tart by head chef Tom Doran
This recipe sounds like a chore, but all of the hard work can be done well in advance and then reheated in a warm oven as and when required. The only thing that really benefits from being cooked last minute is the pigeon which would be much more succulent if cooked immediately prior to serving.
10 x Wood pigeon breasts – skinless and rinsed
500g puff pastry
4 x Red onions – thinly sliced
500ml of port
200ml good red wine
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
5 x plump fresh figs
1 bunch of watercress
8 x sprigs of tarragon
1 x shallot - sliced
Few sprigs of thyme
Extra virgin olive oil
Good balsamic vinegar
Roll out the puff pastry to a rectangle of just under ½ cm thickness. Trim the edges to make them straight and divide into 5 rectangular pieces of roughly equal sizes. Heat up a thick based pan on the stove, add a splash of olive oil and begin to sweat down your sliced red onion. Reduce the heat and let them cook slowly until soft. Add a quarter of your port to the onions and continue on the heat until all of the liquid is absorbed, then season them well. Thinly slice each fig. Divide some onion mix between the five pastry rectangles leaving some room around the edges for them to rise, then fan a sliced fig on top of each one. Pick sprigs of Thyme onto the tarts then place them into a shallow oven tray lined with baking parchment. Place a wire cooling rack (legs pointing downwards) over the tarts allowing just a couple of centimetres for rising – this stops the tarts inflating up like balloons and is well worthwhile in terms of presentation. Place them into a preheated oven on 180 degrees until golden brown, normally around 20 – 25 mins.
Meanwhile, place the remaining port, red wine, redcurrant jelly, shallot and tarragon into a saucepan and place on the stove – reduce down until it coats the back of a metal spoon.
Heat another frying pan on the stove with a splash of cooking oil, season the pigeon breasts generously and place them into the pan as the oil begins to smoke. Cook on the first side for 30 seconds then on the second side for 30 seconds then allow to rest for 5 minutes on a warmed plate.
Divide the warm tarts between five plates, top each one with the pigeon breasts (carved or whole doesn’t matter), drizzle with the port reduction and garnish with any remaining red onion mix you may have and some watercress, dressed simply with the olive oil, balsamic and salt and pepper.
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