Looking for something luxurious? Humble wood pigeon really comes into its own as part of this sumptuous dinner with earthy truffle – and it looks like it’s come straight out of a restaurant. If you can’t track down purple potatoes, just swap for regular spuds; they’ll taste just as good.
Method
1. Prepare the potatoes
Wash the potatoes, and dice them into rough 2cm squares. Place on a tray and sprinkle with salt. This draws out the moisture when roasting and seasons the potato as it cooks.
2. Roast the potatoes
Roast the potatoes in the oven at 150°C for 30–45 minutes.
3. Prepare the pigeon
While the potatoes are in the oven, lightly season the pigeon crown with salt and crushed black pepper, then rub the meat with oil, inside and out.
4. Sear the pigeon
Use a roasting pan to sear the breasts of the crown for 2 minutes on each side, then move the pan to a hot oven for 7 minutes at 180°C. Give the pigeon the same amount of time to rest once it comes out of the oven.
5. Boil eggs
Soft boil the eggs for 4 minutes 30 seconds. Plunge them into ice-cold water before peeling.
6. Make the sauce
Put the squid ink and white wine vinegar into a food blender. Add the 2 eggs and blend; it’ll start to look a bit like mayonnaise.
Add the truffle oil to the mixture, then the rapeseed oil. The sauce should be thick enough to hold its own shape when you lift it with a spoon. Set to one side.
7. Mix the salad
Shell the broad beans and add these into a mixing bowl with the fresh peas. If you’re using wood sorrel, pick out a few nice stems and add these too, then dress the salad with a little rapeseed oil and a touch of salt.
8. Season the pigeon
Remove the two breast fillets from the crown, which should now have had some time to rest. Season the underside of the breast with salt and black pepper.
9. Plate up
Trim the skin of the breasts and place on each plate.
Use a spoon to carefully serve the potatoes and salad around the pigeon, then add the watercress.
10. Garnish & serve
To garnish, pour the truffle sauce into a nibbed bottle and dot it decoratively around the plate. If you haven’t got a nibbed bottle, just use a teaspoon.
For a decadent finish, grate fresh truffle over the top.