April Recipes
Wild game birds
Wood pigeons may not make great stock, but they are a good source of inexpensive meat that appears luxurious on the plate. Their cold meat makes an excellent substitute for duck. And they show that game birds need not be served in the gentleman club style with endless bread sauce.
Wood Pigeon Breasts with Watercress, Cobnuts and Toasted Sourdough Bread.
In Dorset, a familiar late-summer sight is wood pigeons gleaning the corn after the harvest. For gamekeeper Johnny Langdown it is the perfect time to hide behind a cobnut tree for hours, shotgun in hand, waiting and waiting.
Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a starter
8 wood pigeon breasts
a little dripping or oil
4 slices of sourdough bread
2 bunches of watercress, the stalks removed
2 tablespoons shelled fresh cobnuts (in September) or hazelnuts, lightly crushed
a few drops of pumpkinseed oil (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 shallot, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
Mix the dressing ingredients together, season to taste with a little salt and then set aside. Season the wood pigeon breasts with salt and pepper. Heat the fat in a large, heavy-based frying pan until it sizzles when a drop of water is thrown in (at arm�s length). Add the wood pigeon breasts and sear for 1 minute on each side. Transfer to a warm place and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Toast the bread on both sides in the frying pan and put it on serving plates. Slice the wood pigeon breasts across the grain and put them on the bread with the watercress and cobnuts, then pour the dressing over. A few drops of toasted pumpkinseed oil finishes an autumn salad such as this one perfectly.
Any-fish Stew
Every country has its fish stew but here is mine. Very flexible but all the elements are there. Choose pollack, tusk, megrim, red mullet and gurnard, and ask your fishmonger to fillet them and give you the heads and bones.
Serves 4�6
1kg/21/4lb mixed fish fillets, cut into 7.5cm/3 inch pieces, plus the heads and bones
1 litre/13/4 pints water
1 large glass of white wine
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
10 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped
1 tablespoon crushed coriander seeds
a pinch of dried thyme
a good pinch of saffron strands
1kg/21/4lb cockles and mussels, cleaned
a dash of Pernod
salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
toasted bread, rubbed with oil
mixed grated lemon zest and chopped parsley, plus chopped garlic if liked
Make a simple broth from the fish heads and bones: cover them with the water and wine, bring to the boil and simmer for half an hour, skimming off any foam. Strain, discarding the bones.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the vegetables, coriander seeds, thyme, saffron and then the broth. Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are soft. Add the fish and shellfish and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes or until the shellfish open. Finish with a dash of Pernod and season with salt and pepper. Serve over toasted bread rubbed with oil and scatter over the lemon and parsley mixture.
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