What's Pressoir Eating?

by Daniel Johnnes

September 30, 2020

With summer weather and produce just starting to wind down, we find ourselves at this amazing crossroad of warm weather activities, summer fruit and vegetables, fish and grilled meats and a wink towards the cooler autumn abundance of game, mushrooms, deeper sauces and heartier roasts and braises.

As I like to pair my dishes with what I’m drinking, I was looking at Jaime’s wine selection for this week. While Pommard has a history of being a fairly powerful red overall, the Pezerolles from De Montille is more on the elegant side. Still, I feel a light touch of cooler times ahead and wanted to get into the spirit of the season by preparing a dark meat bird and garnishing it with the first cèpes of the season. Cèpe is my favorite mushroom, combining the flavors and aromas of the forest with wonderful texture and a delicate, woodsy taste. So this fairly simple dish is a roast pigeon or squab seasoned with salt and pepper and pan roasted in butter for about 7 minutes per side for color. Then another 10 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees is all it takes to keep the flesh rosy and tender.

Let the pigeon rest 15 minutes before carving.

Meanwhile add a half pound of cèpe mushrooms, one chopped shallot, one clove of chopped garlic to the hot pan and cook till tender. Add one cup of red wine to deglaze and several sprigs of thyme in the pan and reduce by a third. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and set aside. Season to taste.

Remove the breasts from the bird and keep warm in the jus.

Serve with soft polenta and spinach on the side. Eat with a nice glass/bottle of Pommard!