Pigeon Paté with Orange

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Medium

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 2 hours (24 hours)

Cut into slices and serve with buttered toast.

• 4 pigeon breasts
• 375 g pork sausage meat
• 125g streaky bacon
• 1 orange grated rind and juice
• pinch dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbspn brandy
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ tspn ground nutmeg
• 2 shallots finely diced
• 1 egg

Slice the breasts into fingers and leave to marinade in orange juice, rind, brandy and garlic. Preheat oven to gas 3,160C, 325F. Chop bacon into thin strips and add to pork sausage meat with shallot, nutmeg, thyme,egg and seasoning.

Mix together thoroughly. Grease a 500g loaf tin and put a layer of pork mixture into it; then a layer of pigeon fingers, continue making alternate layers finishing with a layer of pork. Put the bay leaf on top and cover tightly with foil. Stand the tin in a baking dish and surround with boiling water; bake for 1''4 hours.

Leave to cool with a weights on top of it. Do not turn out of tin until 24 hours later. Recipe taken from Chanctonbury Game Website, which includes more delicious pigeon recipes.