Pigeon breast and chocolate mole with red currants and parmesan mash

Signe Johansen’s winning recipe from a recent bloggers' food and wine matching event which required her to create a dish to pair with a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon

Serves 4

For the pigeon and the jus reduction:
Allow 2-3 pigeon breasts per person, ideally with the skin still on
4 tbsp crab apple jelly or redcurrant jelly
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
4 tsp grated cacao (I used Willie’s Venezuelan Black - don't use a sweetened chocolate for this)
Salt & pepper
Oil for frying the pigeon
A little chilled butter for finishing the dish
A sprig of redcurrants for each plate

For the mash:
4 large King Edward potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces
200ml double cream
75g butter
50g grated parmesan
pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper

First bring the potatoes to a boil in salted water. Cook until tender, drain off the water and shake the potatoes in the hot pan to dry them out. In a separate pan reduce the cream by half, add the butter and blend together. Mash the potatoes to break them up, then add the parmesan and the reduced cream and melted butter. Season to taste and set aside to be re-heated just before serving.

Next put a tablespoon of oil in a medium saut pan (or 2 tbsp in a large one) and saute the pigeon breasts skin-side down over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, rendering the fat to make it crispy, then turn the pigeon over for a further minute. Remove the pigeon breasts from the saute pan and keep covered in a low oven (100°C or less). Add the red wine to the saute pan and reduce by two thirds, until a deep crimson colour and a viscous consistency. Add the crab apple or redcurrant jelly and warm through to melt the jelly. Finally stir through the grated cacao, and check the seasoning. Finish the jus off with a piece of cold butter to give it extra gloss

Re-heat the parmesan mash, serve on a plate and surround with sliced pigeon, a generous drizzle of the mole jus and garnish with the redcurrant sprig

For more of Signe's recipes visit her blog Scandilicious

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