
Roasted Wood Pigeon in Lavender Shortcrust Pastry
Try this recipe for hearty roasted pigeons in lavender shortcrust pastry, a perfect dinner showstopper. Made with Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry.
Quick Stats
Difficult
5 servings
30 minutes bake time
Roasted Wood Pigeon in Lavender Shortcrust Pastry
Try this recipe for hearty roasted pigeons in lavender shortcrust pastry, a perfect dinner showstopper. Made with Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry.
Ingredients
- 750 g Jus-Rol™ shortcrust pastry
- 4 oven ready wood pigeons
- 5 g chopped picked lavender
- 50 g butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 cloves
- Sea salt
- Milled black pepper
Equipment required
- Saucepan
- Knife
- Baking tray
Techniques Used
-
How to Roll Shortcrust Pastry
How to Roll Shortcrust Pastry
- For best results when rolling out shortcrust pastry use a large, clean dry area of the work surface and lightly dust it with plain flour.
- Place pastry dough on surface and lightly dust it and the rolling pin with flour.
- Roll pastry firmly, always rolling away from you, give the dough 2-3 rolls.
- Then turn the dough a quarter turn.
- Dust again if necessary and continue rolling out, frequently turning the pastry so it is not always rolled in the same direction as this causes shrinkage.
- When the pastry has increased in size, pick it up to turn/ line the tin by rolling it round the rolling pin.
- Lift the pin with the pastry around it carefully and turn it to lay out and continue rolling. Again this is done to prevent the pastry from stretching as you lift it which in turn would result in shrinkage in baking. Shortcrust pastry should be rolled out to approx. 3-5 mm. depth.
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted) / Gas Mark 4.
- Sear the pigeon in a hot pan on all sides, baste with the butter and season well.
- Lay out the pastry and sprinkle over the lavender, then roll out to imbed the lavender into the pastry.
- Cut the pastry into the shapes needed to create the pigeon. For the body – 15 – 20cm square depending on the size of the bird (enough to cover the body), for the wings – 6 x 9cm rectangles with the corner rounded across the length of one side and for the head roll up some of the leftover pastry pieces into a ping pong sized ball (around 4cm in diameter).
- Wrap the pastry that was pre-cut for the body around the pigeon, egg wash then attach the wings and the head and egg wash again.
- Place the bird onto a baking tray and insert two cloves for eyes.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.