Spiced Pigeon Breasts with Apple, Bacon & Squash Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium squash
3 garlic cloves
180g smoked streaky bacon
4-6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Little Apiary honey
½ tsp mixed spice
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, plus extra to garnish
250g wild pigeon breasts
A few glosses of olive oil and/or a nut of butter
1 large or 2 small apples

15 mins (prep) | 1hr (cooking)

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6.

2. Quarter your squash. Scoop seeds out. Pop in a dish with the whole garlic cloves (leave in skin). Drape rashers of bacon on top. Roast 45 mins-1 hr, or till the squash is tender and charred. Check midway. Remove bacon once crisp.

3. Whisk 4-6 tbsp balsamic, the honey and mixed spice. Roll the pigeon breasts in it. Season. Scatter thyme leaves on top.

4. Heat a large frying pan. Gloss with oil/butter. Sizzle the pigeon for 3 mins on each side till golden. Let them rest. Heat the marinade till bubbly. Transfer to a gravy jug.

5. Slice the apple horizontally into ½-1 cm thick rounds. Rinse your pigeon pan. Add a gloss of oil/butter. Fry the slices till each side’s golden.

6. Scoop the squash out of its skin; de-skin the garlic cloves. Mash the squash, garlic and a little butter. Thinly slice the pigeon. Serve on top of the squash mash with the warm pan juices, fried apple slices and bacon.