Ingredients:-

  • 4 x pigeon breasts
  • ½ x small onion (finely diced)
  • 2 x cloves garlic (crushed)
  • 6 x rashers of streaky bacon (cut into thin strips)
  • Olive oil for frying
  • 4 x Flat field mushrooms (sliced)
  • Flat leaf parsley (roughly chopped)
  • Splash of red wine vinegar
  • 8 x whole walnuts in their shells
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • Mixed salad leaves

Method:-

  • Roast the walnuts in a warm oven for 10 minutes, then crack open and remove one half of the nut (discarding the empty shell) so that you have a mix of shelled nuts and some still contained inside their shells.
  • Cook the bacon lardons in a slug of olive oil until crunchy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a piece of kitchen paper leaving the oil in the pan.
  • Sweat off the onion and garlic in the bacon fat together with a slug of olive oil and add the mushrooms and fry until any water has evaporated from them.
  • Add the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, parsley, roasted walnuts and bacon and stir through until all ingredients are warm and combined.
  • Heat some more olive oil in a frying pan and pan fry the pigeon breasts for about a minute on each side so they stay pink in the middle. Remove from the heat and rest while you plate up the salad.
  • Pile the mixed leaves into the middle of a plate and top with the warm bacon and walnut salad spooning over any dressing left in the pan.
  • Slice the pigeon breast and lay on top of the salad and serve at once.