Oooo the joys of the wild, to watch Oyster mushrooms growing and prepping freshly shot pigeons and pheasants from our mate Richard. I think I scared away poor vegetarian David, the final straw being the ceremonious gutting of a brace of pheasants in my kitchen. Ah well, at least I gave him tea first. Oh course our Oyster mushrooms didn’t actually grow in the wild, the grow boxes in our kitchen are the creation of Adam Sayner, our supplier of the season. I am currently watching harvest number two start to take shape. You get an average of three harvests from one box! And only £12, a bargain that is, and a fabulous gift. Last Christmas most of my family were growing gourmet mushrooms.Adam uses recycled coffee grounds to grow the mushrooms in. How cool is that! You can buy them from http://www.fungi-futures.co.uk
So recipe number two from our first Supplier Of The Season evening.
Braised puy lentils with rare pigeon breast and curly kale Serves 4
- 8 wood pigeon breasts, marinated overnight in blackberry gin (or sloe gin)
- ground spices – (1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 star anise, 1/4 cinnamon stick, 1tsp allspice berry, 1 tsp juniper) 1 tbsp brown sugar, zest of 1 orange, salt. Fry mirapoix (1 carrot, 1 celery stick, 1 onion, diced). Fry for a few minutes.
- Add 1 clove chopped garlic and 4 rashers sliced bacon. Fry.
- Add a splash of sherry.
- Add 250g puy lentils (washed) and enough stock to cover (I made a pigeon stock).
- Simmer until the lentils are cooked but retain their shape. Season well.
- Drain the wood pigeon breasts. Fry in a hot pan for a couple of minutes each side.
- Rest before slicing and plating up with the wood pigeon resting on top of the braised lentils. Serve with curly kale on the side.
All the vegetables in the recipe were local and organic. The pigeons were shot in the woods nearby. The mushrooms grew in my kitchen. I suspect the puy lentils were grown in Puy.
Many thanks to our marvelous photographer Hele, to the talented Adam for his mushrooms and for Mark and Jenny for their eating skills.
Enjoy
Hannah x
