Marina's Famous Pigeon Pot Pie

Illustration via State Library of Queensland

From guest blogger Marina Michahelles of Shoving Leopard Farm in Barrytown, NY...

You'll be asking for seconds.

I had an idea of what I wanted to eat but didn't have a recipe for it. This is what I did, and it was scrumptious.

Marina's Famous Pigeon Pot Pie
Ingredients
2 pigeons (ONLY country pigeons will do, well-fed on farmer's corn, etc.)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Pomegranate molasses (regular molasses will do)
Meat broth
Sprinkle of zatar and oregano
Bay leaf
1-2 c. red wine
3 onions, diced into chunks
2 carrots, cut into rounds
Celariac, diced
5-6 potatoes cut into rounds
Butter
Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions
Meat portion of the filling:
 Clean pigeons, remove the breast meat (which is red like a duck's) and marinate in oil, vinegar, garlic, pepper, and pomegranate molasses overnight. The following morning, put the meat and its marinade in the crock pot along with meat broth (I used pig broth I had previously made), a healthy sprinkle of zatar, a bay leaf, oregano, red wine. Set the crock pot on high for a few hours, then on low. Total crock time, 8 hours.

Veggie portion of the filling:
In a heavy cast iron skillet, glazed onions with butter and olive oil. Add carrots, and a big piece of celeriac cut into small bits. When vegetables are soft, add potatoes (I used one Mila, a Magic Molly, a Troll, a Red Norland, a Red Maria...). Cover the skillet and keep flame on low. Flip the veggies regularly, checking for dryness, and add either butter or liquid from the meat to keep them moist. Total veggie time, 4.5 hours.

Crust:
Blind-baked a bottom crust using the Nothing-in-the House pie crust recipe in a deep 9" pie mold.

Putting it all together:
When the crust is blind-baking, combine the strained meat and the veggies in a bowl and add grated cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Fill the crust, covering it with a top crust and cut out a pigeon (or crust design of your choice). Bake the pie another 25-30 minutes to melt the cheese and bake the top crust.

Meanwhile,use the remaining broth and marinade from the meat to make a roux in the same cast iron skillet the veggies were cooked in.

The pie was served with roasted cherry tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. Mega-yum.