Juniper-roasted pigeons, cromesquis legs, red cabbage and blueberry embeurrée

Mountain restaurant chef Florent Meyer brings the classic roast pigeon up to date. Discover his recipe.

This recipe by Florent Meyer, chef of the Signature restaurant in Combloux, is from the 2024 edition ofBook 109: The new blood of French gastronomy. Discover the ingredients and preparation steps to make it a breeze.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 2 h
Cooking time: 2 h 10

Ingredients for Florent Meyer 's juniper-roasted pigeons

4 pigeons (prepared by your butcher), i.e. 8 supremes and 8 legs
2 red cabbages
400 g wild blueberries (fresh or frozen)
100 g farm butter
4 cl balsamic vinegar
Maïzena
Juniper berries
Agar-agar
1 Kub Or broth
2 agata potatoes
10 g Panko breadcrumbs
4 egg yolks
40 g flour
1 bunch chopped chives
Oil
Butte r

For the aromatic garnish

1 carrot
½ onion
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
1 sprig thyme

For the dressing

Herbs (oxalis, venecress, sorrel thumbs or others )
Salt
Flower of salt
Peppe r

Steps for Florent Meyer 's juniper-roasted pigeons

Red cabbage with blueberries: select the four outer leaves of the cabbage. Blanch for 6 min in boiling salted water, then plunge into cold water. Set aside.
Finely chop the remaining cabbages, removing the core. Melt 50g butter in a saucepan, add the cabbages, 200g blueberries, 6g salt and 20cl water. Cover and cook over a low heat for around 20 min. The cabbage should be melting and there should be no liquid left.
Using cling film, roll up the compote in the cooked cabbage leaves. Close with a knot on each side and chill.
Blueberry and juniper coulis: cook 200 g blueberries in a saucepan for 10 min with vinegar, 10 cl water and 5 finely chopped juniper berries. Add the agar-agar and leave to set in a cool place. Blend in a blender until smooth and pipette out.
Cromesquis of thighs: cook the peeled potatoes in salted water for 20 min, then run through a food mill to make a purée.
Cook the thighs in a saucepan with the finely chopped garnish, one Kub Or, 10 juniper berries, 3 g salt and 20 cl water. Cover and cook for 45 min. The flesh should fall away from the bone.
Finely slice the meat from the thighs. Keep 4 bones for dressing and the cooking juices for the sauce. Mix the meat with the same weight of potato pulp, crush 2 juniper berries and season with salt and pepper. Place in sphere-shaped molds. Freeze, then remove from the molds.
Coat the spheres (still frozen) with flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs. Set aside in the freezer and deep-fry in oil at 180°C until nicely colored.
Pigeon juice: reduce the cooking juices from the thighs by half with the remaining juniper berries, season and thicken with cornstarch diluted with cold water. Strain through a sieve and add 10 g butter cut into small pieces. Set aside in a saucepan for serving.
To cook the pigeon fillets, place a knob of butter and a little sunflower oil in a hot pan. Season the supremes with salt and cook them briskly, skin side down, for 2 min. Turn them over for 1 min and remove from the pan. Set aside for dressing.
Dressing: remove the red cabbage rolls from the clingfilm, cut off the ends, then slice down the middle. Place in a baking dish and bake at 150°C for 15 min. Place the fillets in the oven for a further 3 min. Coat the cabbage rolls and fillets with the sauce, then add the chopped chives.
Arrange the cabbage roll on the plate, followed by dots of blueberry coulis. Top with the pigeon supremes. Pour over the sauce and finish with the herbs. Fry the cromesquis, seasoning lightly with salt. Stick the thigh bone inside and arrange them on the support of your choice (here, a bowl filled with hay and juniper berries).

For furtherinformation:

Signature, 62 chemin de la Promenade, 74920 Combloux
12/20 in the Livre des 109
Read Gault&Millau's review of Signature

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