Ingredients

• 4 plump wood pigeon breasts
• skinned
• 200g/7oz smoked belly pork lardons (pancetta or even Ayrshire)
• 2 new potatoes
• cooked
• peeled and sliced
• 3 handfuls of a selection of salad leaves (for example
• roccolla
• mache
• endive)
• 100ml/3½oz walnut oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 50ml/2oz extra virgin olive oil
• a few sprigs of thyme
• a few garlic cloves
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 100ml/3½oz olive oil for cooking

Directions

• Fry the lardons in half the olive oil until crisp and then set aside.
• In the same pan
• add a little more oil and fry the potatoes
• set aside with the lardons in a warm place.
• In a bowl
• combine the mustard with the extra virgin olive oil
• walnut oil and red wine vinegar.
• In the frying pan
• heat the remaining olive oil and cook the pigeon breasts with the garlic and thyme
• turning and seasoning as they cook. The breasts don t take long
• 2-3 minutes each side maximum. Cover and allow to rest.
• Combine the salad leaves
• ¾ of the dressing
• lardons
• potatoes and seasoning in a large bowl and serve on four large plates.
• Cut the pigeon breasts into thin slices and arrange over the salad. Sprinkle over some sea salt and the remainder of the dressing. Serve immediately.