Stuffed Pigeon

Pigeon is something that us bush cooks put on the menu now and again just to show that we can do fancy recipes just as well as our five star restaurant chef buddies in the city. But in true bushy style we don’t go to anywhere near the lengths that a chef does to make something edible.

Now lets face it, there is basically no meat on a pigeon to speak of. To get a decent feed you would have to eat about twenty of them and I think by the time you plucked and prepared them you would use more energy than what you gained from eating them. So as far as we’re concerned pigeons can get stuffed.

What you need

  • Pigeons, about two per man is good
  • Sausages
  • Finely chopped onions
  • Sage
  • Cooking oil
  • Water
  • Australian red wine

What you do

Shoot as many pigeons as you need then sit down and pluck them and clean them. Then shoot some sausages and gut them as well, they should be easy enough to catch.

Mix the finely chopped onions with plenty of sage and then add it to the sausage meat. Add a splash of red wine to the mix and stir it all together for a couple of minutes. If you can, let the mixture mature for a couple of hours in the esky. If you cant, carry on. Now just stuff each pigeon with the sausage meat mixture then arrange them in rows on the bottom of the camp oven. Splash a bit of the good old Australian red wine over the top of the pigeons, then sprinkle a little oil over them as well.

Add a very small amount of water, just to give a bit of steam while cooking, then place oven on the coals and sprinkle a few on the lid to brown as they cook.

They should be ready in about twenty minutes, enough time to sit down and enjoy that red wine. After all it has already been corked.

Tricks & Tips

Why not have a romantic firelight dinner using this recipe with just the Missus, the sound of summer crickets and the moon silently watching over head. Imagine the firelight flickering on the old river gums, illuminating the little white table cloth with its setting for two. She would gaze lovingly into your eyes, completely overwhelmed by romance, who knows, maybe she will let you go on that fishing trip with your mates next week after all?

Rating

Bloody good for something that is stuffed, which is what you will be if you mention that fishing trip at the table and ruin the atmosphere. How many times have you wished you had paid that little bit extra attention at school, or tried that little bit harder at university? Perhaps the smartest of us all don’t have any diplomas or certificates, just the nose for a good deal.

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