Anjou pigeon with chanterelles and vadouvan gravy

IN ADVANCE

1. Light the charcoal in the Big Green Egg, insert the convEGGtor with the Round Drip Pan and the Stainless Steel Grid on top and heat to a temperature of 140°C. Meanwhile, cut the legs off the Anjou pigeons and remove the giblets; leave the fillets on the carcass. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs and the needles from the rosemary, and chop finely.
2. Melt the goose fat with two-thirds of the garlic (keep the rest aside for later), the thyme, rosemary and vadouvan in the Cast Iron Sauce Pan on the EGG. Carefully place the pigeon legs in the fat and let them cook for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, rub the pigeon breast fillets with the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Leave to confit for 15 minutes, then place the carcasses with the fillets on the grill next to the pan. Allow the legs to cook about 30 minutes longer while the fillets cook on the carcass. Close the lid of the EGG after each action.
4. Remove the pan with the confit legs from the EGG, remove them from the fat and leave to cool slightly. Use the Instant Read Thermometer to check if the pigeon breast fillets have a core temperature of 50°C; cook longer if necessary.
5. Add the goose fat from the Cast Iron Sauce Pot to the Cast Iron Skillet Small and place it on the grill. Remove the meat from the legs, saving the long bones and the rest of the bones. Peel and chop the shallot. Find twelve nice, small chanterelles and keep them aside. Coarsely chop the rest of the chanterelles. Add the shallot, the garlic you kept aside, the coarsely chopped chanterelles, the curry powder, the poultry stock and the confit leg meat to the skillet and reduce until nice and sticky.
6. Scoop the confit meat mixture out of the skillet and set aside. Brown the pigeon breast fillets on the carcass in the skillet. Remove them from the skillet and leave to cool; leave the fat in the skillet. You will use this later to continue cooking. Meanwhile, cut the pork caul fat into four equal pieces.
7. Cut the cooled fillets from the carcass and place them on your worktop. Place a long bone on each fillet and cover with the confit meat mixture. Wrap each fillet, including the meat mixture, in a piece of pork caul fat. Cover and store in the refrigerator.
8. For the gravy, heat the Green Dutch Oven on the grill. Add the carcasses, the rest of the leg bones, the vadouvan and the poultry stock. Close the lid of the EGG and let the gravy infuse for about 30 minutes.
9. Remove the Dutch Oven from the EGG. Line a sieve with a clean, damp muslin and pour the gravy through. Return to the pan and reduce to the desired consistency. Remove the pan from the EGG and bring the temperature to 190°C.
10. For the vegetables, peel the carrots. Place them on a large piece of aluminium foil and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and fold the foil closed. Place the package on the grill, close the lid of the EGG and cook for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and halve the shallots and cut the bottom of the asparagus so that you are left with just the tips. The rest of the asparagus won’t be used in this recipe.
11. Remove the packet of carrots from the EGG and carefully remove the foil.

METHOD

1. Remove the Stainless Steel Grid and convEGGtor and place the Cast Iron Grid in the EGG. Preheat the grill well and keep the temperature at 190°C.
2. Place the carrots and shallots (cut side down) on the grill. Grill the carrots on all sides for about 4 minutes. Grill the shallots for about 2 minutes, turn them a quarter turn and grill for another 2 minutes. Close the lid of the EGG after each action.
3. Remove the vegetables from the EGG and heat the skillet with the fat on the grill. Cut the carrots into neat pieces. Add them to the skillet along with the asparagus tips, the chanterelles kept aside, the sage, the poultry stock and the butter and allow the vegetables to glaze.
4. Scoop the vegetables out of the skillet and remove the sage. Place the pigeon breast wrapped in pork caul fat with confit pigeon in the skillet and fry on both sides until it reaches a core temperature of 55°C. Reheat the gravy. Pull the layers of the shallot apart.
5. Place a pigeon breast with confit pigeon on each plate. Garnish with the carrot, asparagus tips, shallot and rocket, and spoon some of the gravy next to it.

TIP
You can also garnish the dish with sage leaves fried in vegetable oil.