'Game' recipes: From spiced pigeon sauté to partridge and yellow lentil curry

It’s that time of year again: game season. But don’t be put off cooking these beautifully rich and lean meats at home. In their new book, Phil Vickery and Simon Boddy make everything from wildfowl to furred game easy

Don’t be put off from cooking these beautifully rich and lean meats at home (Photography by Peter Cassidy)

Grilled spiced pheasant with mango and mint dressing

This is a nice way to eat pheasant without too much hassle. Marinating the bird first is very helpful in keeping the meat moist. The dressing is quite a modern twist, but I think it works really well. Just take care not to overcook the bird and to rest it for at least 10 minutes.

Serves 2

Preparation: 20 mins, plus standing/marinating

Cooking: 16-20 mins, plus resting

1 pheasant, split in half, backbone and all breastbone and thigh bones removed but leaving the drumsticks attached 
2 tbsp good-quality mild curry powder 
Juice of 2 large limes 
4 tbsp olive oil 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dressing

200ml thick Greek yogurt 
1 tbsp runny honey 
1 tsp white wine vinegar 
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint 
1/2 ripe mango, stoned, skinned and finely chopped 
1 tsp ground turmeric

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper, and leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the prepared pheasant into a glass or ceramic bowl, add the curry powder and rub in well. Add the lime juice, olive oil and salt and pepper and turn to coat well, then cover with clingfilm and leave to marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Preheat the grill to its hottest setting and place the pheasant halves on a non-stick baking tray. Cook the pheasant under the hot grill for about 8-10 minutes on each side or until the juices run clear when pierced with a knife or skewer and the bird is nicely glazed. Once nicely browned, you may want to move the pheasant to the bottom of the grill to cook the drumsticks through.

Remove the pheasant from the grill, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for at least 10 minutes. Serve hot with the mango and mint dressing spooned over the top.

(Peter Cassidy)

Partridge and yellow lentil curry with mint and coriander

Curry is a real favourite, and in this example I have matched partridge with lentils. They break down and thicken the sauce – provided they have been well soaked. The layers of flavour are also really important here. This treatment will also work for pheasant, duck and goose.

Preparation: 20 mins, plus soaking
Cooking: about 45 mins

Serves 4

100g dried yellow lentils
4 young red-legged partridges
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
125g dry-cure streaky bacon
10g good-quality chicken stock cube, crumbled
200ml lager
Salt and ground black pepper
50g sultanas
Pinch of sugar
250g ripe tomatoes, chopped
10 curry leaves

Spice mix

1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp chopped fresh red chilli
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp black onion (nigella or kalonji) seeds
1 tbsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
Pinch of ground asafetida

To finish

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
4 tbsp double cream

Soak the lentils in cold water overnight, then drain. Remove the legs and breasts from each partridge. Chop off the feet and discard. Bone out the thighs and reserve the meat. Leave the drumsticks with the bone in.

Cut up both sets of meat into 3-4cm chunks, but keep them separated – this is because the thighs need to cook for a longer period of time. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan, add all the spices for the spice mix and cook for a minute or two, but be careful not to burn them.

Add the onions, garlic and bacon, cut into 2cm pieces, and cook briefly until the onions are slightly softened. Add the partridge thigh meat and drumsticks only and stir to coat in the onion and spice mixture.

Add the stock cube, lager, salt and pepper, sultanas, sugar, tomatoes and curry leaves. Bring to the boil and add the lentils, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drop in the partridge breast meat and stir through, then cook for a further 10 minutes or until the breast is just cooked – do not overcook the breast or it will dry out! By now the sauce should be thick and full of flavour and colour.

Remove the pan from the stove and leave to cool slightly. Season well with salt and pepper and stir in the coriander, mint and cream, then serve with plain boiled rice, natural thick yoghurt and chapatis.

(Peter Cassidy)

Spiced pigeon sauté with green lentils and lime

Pigeon breasts, as with all birds, have two skins – the outer, feathered one and a fine, almost transparent one that also covers the silver sinew running to one end of the breast. If these are removed, it makes a big difference to the eating experience. I tend to remove them in a similar way to skinning a fillet of fish: on a board and with a knife at a 45-degree angle to the board, pulling the skin as you carefully slice it away.

You need to end up with a thickish stew here, so I have said to use 500ml stock, but you may have to keep an eye on this – you can always add a little more liquid, but you can’t remove it successfully. Bear in mind that the red lentils will thicken up the stew considerably. Pigeon meat can take a fair bit of spice in my view, so don’t be shy.

Serves 4

Preparation: 30 mins
Cooking: 40 mins

½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 pigeon breasts, boned, skinned and secondary skin and sinew removed
4 tbsp any oil, plus another 4 tablespoons 
1 large onion finely chopped 1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped 
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
500ml well-flavoured game stock or chicken stock
1 tbsp tomato puree 
Juice of 1 large lime
100g dried red lentils
2 heaped tbsp chopped fresh basil
100g dried green lentils 
100g thick Greek yoghurt 
4 tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley 

Mix the spices together well, adding pepper at this stage but leaving the salt to later, then sprinkle over the pigeon breasts. Leave until ready to cook. Heat the 4 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, add the vegetables and garlic and cook for 10 minutes over a high heat to get a little colour.

Add the stock, tomato puree, lime juice, red lentils and basil and bring to the boil. Season well with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until all the vegetables and lentils are cooked.

Meanwhile, place the green lentils in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Add a little salt and then simmer for 10 minutes until just tender but not mushy. Drain and refresh in cold water and set aside. Once the stew is cooked, carefully spoon it into a blender and whizz until very smooth – it will probably need two or three goes. You want a thick stew broth that is not too runny. Re-season well and add the cooked green lentils.

When ready to serve, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Season the spiced breasts well with salt, then add them to the hot oil and sauté for 2-3 minutes on each side, making sure they are nice and pink. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the pigeon to rest for 5 minutes.

Heat the thick stew and spoon into the middle of warm deep bowls. Slice the breasts lengthways and drain well on kitchen paper, then lay over the stew. Stir the yoghurt well to make it nice and soft, then spoon a good blob in the centre of the stew and sauteed pigeon. Scatter with the chopped parsley and serve.

‘Game’ by Phil Vickery and Simon Boddy. Published by Kyle Books