Recipe: Pigeon and Pea Tarts

Do make sure you remove the skin from the pigeon, as unlike with pheasant or partridge, it won’t go nice and crispy!

You could make your own pastry for this recipe, but we prefer the light, crispy cheat: bread! 

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 pigeon breasts
• 1 Orange
• 10 Slices of good, white bread
• 3 sprigs of Tarragon
• Butter
• 500g frozen peas
• Salt & pepper

Method:

1. Zest the orange and put this, with a good grind of pepper, on the pigeon breasts. Leave to one side.  
2. Melt a large knob of butter in a pan, and set the oven to 180C. cut a circle from each slice of bread, removing the crusts, and roll the circle with a rolling pin. It should almost double in size. Brush the bread circles on each side with the molten butter. If you have a muffin tin, push each piece of bread into one of the muffin shapes, and place in the oven. If you don’t, simply put the bread on a flat tin and put in the oven.  
3. Keep an eye on these, and allow them to go golden brown, then turn over to allow the base to colour too.  
4. Meanwhile put the peas in boiling salted water until just done. Drain the peas, place back in the pan, with a bit of butter, the chopped tarragon and a squeeze of the orange. Whizz in the food processor, but only until half mashed. Taste, season, and add more orange if needed.  
5. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan, and once very hot, brown the pigeon breast on all sides. Take the pan off the heat, cover with foil and leave to rest.  
6. Put a scoop of the pea mixture on each bit of bread, and once the pigeon is rested, slice thinly and add the slices to the top of each tart. 

To find more pigeon recipes or other recipe ideas see The Sportsman Food section. 

Pigeon Shooting Tip: 

• When decoying pigeons, often dead birds can work the best as nothing looks better than the real thing. Use a piece of wire to give them the correct positioning in the field. Keep a few in the freezer to use the next time you go, or to help train your dog.