A gourmet recipe that is one of the oldest in famed French restaurant Chez Bruno, Pigeon in pastry with foie gras and truffles is easy to make and can take only 30 minutes to cook and prepare. It is constructed with layer upon layer of exquisite ingredients, wrapped in a pastry and baked in the oven for exactly fifteen minutes.

The boned pigeon is topped with a generous layer of truffles, which is topped with a big slice of foie gras, and topped with another layer of leg pigeon, and finally, topped with a layer of braised cabbage, and all wrapped inside the pastry dough that is cooked until golden and crusty. One bite of this delicious dish is enough to send you to outer space. The richness of the ingredients is quite a mind altering experience.

Squab is the term used for the meat of the young domestic pigeon. It tastes similar to the dark meat of chicken and has very little fat in them. In most cases, pigeon is not available in your local grocery and supermarket and must be caught in the wild. City pigeons are also abundant but are not very popular as food among urban dwellers. Some think of them as a rat with wings. Chef Clement Bruno cooks pigeon from the Alps, which have fed on natural and wholesome food. In France where pigeon is a culinary mainstay, pigeon is domesticated for its meat.

This recipe uses deboned pigeon, specifically squab breast and leg. Chef Clement Bruno stresses the importance of cooking the pigeon for exactly fifteen minutes, not a minute more and not a minute less, on a 200 degree-oven. This produces a pinkish, slightly raw meat that is juicy and full of flavor.

Ingredients
5 pigeons of about 15 oz. a piece
10 ½ oz. of foie gras
3 ½ oz. white truffles
1 curly cabbage leaf
3 oz. smoke
35 ½ oz. puff pastry
2 oz. butter.
For white sauce:
2 oz. black truffles
3 ½ oz. of foie gras in cubes
3 garlic cloves
1 onion

1
To make braised cabbage, shred cabbage and blanche in hot water. Drain and sauté in butter until soft and set aside.

2
Delicately remove the skin of the deboned pigeon breast and leg. Season the pigeon with salt and pepper. Take the slab of foie gras and season with salt and pepper.

3
On the flat and round pastry dough, lay down the pigeon breast. Cover the top of the pigeon breast with thick shavings of truffles. Place the slab of foie gras on top of the truffles, and lay the piece of pigeon leg over the foie gras. Press braised cabbage on top of the pigeon leg.

4
Wrap and seal the pastry around the layers of meat and truffles. The leg of the pigeon may stick out of the sides of the pastry, which is fine. Brush some egg yolk on the pastry to achieve a golden color when it is cooked. Bake for exactly 15 minutes in a 200 degrees oven.

5
To make the sauce, sauté the garlic and onions in butter. Add cubed foie gras and black truffles and stir until the ingredients melt and produce a thick dark sauce.

6
Slice cooked pastry into two. Put in a clean plate on a bed of stewed vegetables. Pour sauce over dish and serve.