Wild game can be a very difficult thing to cook, or at least to cook well. Many people avoid it because it can be tough, tasteless or even overwhelmed with "game" flavor. Wild game is pretty much perfect for sous vide thanks to wild game being generally very lean. This way, you can cook your food to the perfect temperature and you're not letting it sit in fat, not that there's anything wrong with confit! This dish is an amazing blend of game, sweet, savory, salty and freshness from the herbs. My dove breast herb salad will be your new favorite quick go to lunch!
Ingredients:
- 3 dove breasts
- 1 herb salad pack
- small handful of grapes
- 2 slices of bacon
- 2 brussels sprouts
Start off by setting your Anova sous vide machine to 140F (60C). While your water heats up we can start to assemble the rest of the dish. Get a small sauce pot and fill it with water, with a touch of salt. Get it to a rapid boil so we can blanch our brussels sprouts. Take your dove and slice the breasts off of the rib cage.
Once all of the breasts have been sliced off, seal with salt and pepper in a vacuum seal bag.
Once your water is 140F (60C) drop your dove breast in for 5 minutes. Since the breast is so small it won't take long at all to cook to the perfect temperature, plus the sear we're going to give it will help at the end.
Slice your bacon thin and start to cook in a pan until it's crispy and brown. Remove the bacon from the pan, reserving it on a paper towel. Blanch your brussels sprouts in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then immediately take out and place in an ice water bath to stop cooking. Once your 5 minute cook on your dove breast is up, sear the dove in the left over bacon fat. When you have a nice sear, chop the bottoms of the brussels off and separate the layers, then sauté the layers in the bacon fat as well with a small handful of sliced grapes. Sear long enough to add a little color to the brussels but not so much as to wilt them. Once you have the cooking finished, start layering a few herbs on a plate, then add the brussels layers, grapes and dove breast. Garnish with salt and chopped bacon.
