Pigeon & Buckwheat dish

One of my favorite childhood memories is driving through the countryside, watching & running through fields of wheat. This dish is inspired by those memories. We’re going to make a lovely buckwheat & pigeon dish! It’s a pigeon breast with a confit leg bitterbal, a liver & heart cream, corn cream, puffed buckwheat, a buckwheat tuille and a buckwheat and pigeon sauce!

How to clean the pigeons

I have these lovely French Anjou pigeons. Remove the head and then the neck. The neck you can keep for the sauce. Then remove the claws. Now also remove the wings and keep them for the sauce as well. Then make two small incisions on the legs and bend them to break the joints. Cut them off and keep them for the confit. Now make an incision just behind the breasts and twist the back. Then cut it off and keep the heart and liver for the cream. The back you can keep for the sauce as well. Keep the breasts on the carcass in your fridge for later.

The confit pigeon bitterbals

	The pigeon legs
	Duck or goose fat
2 cloves	garlic
2	bay leaves
25 grams	butter
25 grams	flour
150 grams	poultry broth
	Balsamic vinegar

Season the pigeon legs all around with salt and transfer them into a pan. Now submerge the legs completely with melted goose fat or duck fat and also add the garlic that's cut in half and the bay leaves. Then bring this to a simmer, then turn down the heat and let it confit for around 2 hours. The legs are cooked when the meat falls off the bone. Then take the legs out of the fat and pass the fat through a fine sieve. You can reuse it for another recipe. After that clean the legs by removing the bones, skin and any other unwanted parts. Now chop the cleaned meat into small even pieces and keep it aside for later. After that melt the butter in a saucepan and once it’s melted add the flour. Cook the flour while stirring on a medium heat for around 2 minutes. Then in 4 parts slowly add the poultry broth and bring it to a boil every time you add a part of the broth. When it’s binded add the cleaned pigeon meat and mix it well. Now season it with balsamic vinegar and salt and then transfer it into a piping bag that’s fitted with a round nozzle. Once that’s done fill a medium sized sphere mold with the filling and level it with a pallet knife. To complete the grain look I trimmed some dried whole grains and pressed them in the filling. This is purely done for presentation, so it’s optional. Let the filling freeze till solid. Meanwhile we can prepare our breadcrumb station.

1	egg
	flour
	breadcrumbs or a fine panko

Beat the egg for 30 seconds and also fill a bowl with flour and one with breadcrumbs or a fine panko. Then gently remove the filling from mold and cover them one by one with a thin layer of flour. Now add a layer of beaten egg and then finally a layer of breadcrumbs. I always like to double the amount of breadcrumbs, for that first cover with another layer of egg and then the breadcrumbs. Keep them in your freezer for later.

The pigeon liver and heart cream

1	shallot
80 grams	pigeon hearts and livers
25 grams	madeira
Half a leaf or 0.8 grams	gelatin
75 grams	cream
15 grams	egg yolk
10 grams	butter

Cut the shallot in half and clean it. Then slice it in thin slices. Now add a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and pan fry the shallot together with the pigeon hearts and livers. Directly season with salt. Once a nice golden color starts to form deglaze the pan with the Madeira wine and let this vaporize. Then transfer it on a tray and let it cool down in your fridge. Meanwhile soak the gelatin in cold water. Now mix the cream with the egg yolk and the butter. Mix this well and then while stirring heat this up till it’s 85 degrees Celsius. Then once it has thickened turn off the heat and dissolve the gelatin. Also add the cooked shallots, pigeon hearts & livers and then blend it till smooth. Once smooth transfer it into a bowl and while covered let it cool down in your fridge. You can keep it in your fridge for 2 to 3 days.

The pigeon sauce

3	pigeon carcasses
	The pigeon trimmings
1	celeriac
250 grams	shallots
200 grams	white button mushroom
250 grams	white wine
1 liter	water
500 grams	cream
0.5 bulb	garlic
4	bay leaves
60 grams	buckwheat
50 grams	cold cubes of butter

Pour a drizzle of oil in a hot pot and start pan frying the pigeon carcasses and all the trimmings from before. Really make sure you get a nice golden brown color all around. Meanwhile we can cut our vegetables. First clean the celeriac and cut 200 grams in even cubes. Then cut the shallots in half and clean them. Now slice them in even thin slices. Do the same with the button mushrooms. Then once the pigeon trimmings start to color add the cut vegetables and pan fry it for another 5 minutes. After that deglaze the pan with the white wine and let it vaporize. Now add the water, the cream, the garlic that’s cut in half and the bay leaves. Let this simmer on a low heat for at least 6 hours. Once all the flavor has been extracted drain the sauce and let it drip for at least 30 minutes, so you don’t waste a single drop. Then toast the buckwheat at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Once toasted and still hot add the buckwheat to the sauce and while the heat is off let it marinade for 2 hours. After that pass the sauce through a fine sieve and tap the side of the sieve to speed up this process. Now if necessary reduce the sauce a bit to intensify the flavor and then bind it with the cold cubes of butter. Add them cube by cube while stirring to thicken the sauce. Give it a taste for seasoning and then keep it in your fridge for later.

The crispy puffed buckwheat

Season some boiling water with salt and boil some buckwheat for around 15 minutes. Don’t be afraid to overcook it. It’s better to overcook, then undercook it. Now drain the water and let it drip for 5 minutes. Then spread the buckwheat on a silicon sheet and let it dry at 50 degrees Celsius for a couple of hours. Mix it in between till all the moisture has evaporated. Now deep fry the dried buckwheat at 220 degrees Celsius for a couple of seconds. This will make them puff up and become super crispy. Be careful, because the oil is super hot! Now transfer the buckwheat on a tray that’s lined with a kitchen paper and directly season it with salt. Then you can keep it dry and covered for a couple of days or even weeks.

The buckwheat tuille

60 grams	egg white
40 grams	sunflower oil
10 grams	butter
10 grams	sugar
3 grams	salt
25 grams	regular flour
25 grams	buckwheat flour

Mix the egg white with the sunflower oil, the butter, the sugar, the salt, the regular flour and the buckwheat flour. Blend this till smooth. Then spread it on a grain tuille mold. Click here more information. Bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for around 15 to 20 minutes till golden brown. Then when still hot gently remove it from the mold and keep them dry and covered for later.

The corn cream

2 pieces	corn (300 grams kernels)
2	shallots
3 grams	salt
200 grams	vegetable broth
150 grams	cream
2 sprigs	lovage

Clean the corn and cut the kernels of the core. You need 300 grams. Then cut the shallots in half and clean them. Now slice them in thin slices. Pour a drizzle of oil in a pan and soften the shallot with the salt. We do this to remove the sharp taste. Then add the corn and the vegetable broth, the cream and the lovage. Let the liquid reduce on a medium heat till almost everything has evaporated. Then remove the sprigs of lovage and transfer everything into a blender. Blend this till smooth. This takes at least 5 minutes. Normally I always add a binder to a cream to prevent it from splitting, but corn has so much starch that it binds on it’s own. After that pass it through a fine sieve and use a ladle to make it a bit easier. Then transfer it into a piping bottle and keep it in your fridge.

Final prep

For the final prep we just need to cut some grapes in half and then in four. In total you need 1 grape for every dish. Keep those in your fridge as well.

How to finish the dish

First let’s cook the pigeon breasts. Season the pigeon all around with salt and add a drizzle of oil to a hot pan. Now pan fry it at a medium high heat till golden brown. Once the skin is nice and golden add a knot of butter with some thyme, a bay leaf and two cloves of crushed garlic. Let the butter caramelize and then directly baste the pigeon for 30 seconds to a minute. This will create a lovely flavor and a crispy skin. Now place the pigeon on an oven rack and pour the hot fat on top. Then bake it in an oven at 110 degrees Celsius for another 10 minutes before letting it rest at 50 degrees Celsius for at least 15 minutes.

Now while the pigeon is resting, we can finish the other components. First deep fry the bitterbals at 180 degrees Celsius for around 2 to 3 minutes. We’re looking for a nice golden color. Once that’s done place them on a kitchen paper and directly season with salt. For this dish I serve them on the side on a little side plate. Now take a turn table and spin your hot plate so you can create a nice circle with the hot corn cream. Then pipe three lines in the circle and also add three lines of the liver and heart cream. Make the corn cream lines a bit thicker and sprinkle the puffed buckwheat on top of the liver and heart cream. Now press the tuilles in the corn cream and cover any remaining cream with the buckwheat. In total I have three layers of tuilles. Then place some grapes in between. These will give the dish a lovely fresh note. Now take the pigeon and give it some heat with a blowtorch without burning the skin. Then cut the breasts off the carcass and trim the sides by cutting away any fat or unwanted parts. Now portion the breasts in half and season with some flaky salt. Here I serve the dish with half a breast because they’re pretty big as well, but you do you. If you want to serve a whole breast or even a whole pigeon that’s fine as well. Just be sure there’s a good balance with the garnish. Then serve it with the beautiful hot pigeon and buckwheat sauce.