Pigeon and nduja with wild garlic and jerusalem artichoke latkes

James Smart from the Real Cure sent us a sample of his Smoked Dorset Nduja this week, its made using free range Gloucester Old Spots and sweet and fruity chillies. We thought it might go well with some pigeon breasts which had just been given to us by some friends who live on the other side of the valley and are our main suppliers of game.

Looking around for other complementary flavours we noticed the wild garlic has just started peeping up underneath our hedge, just enough for the two of us.

Looking around for further inspiration we came across a stack of jars not seen since autumn, the results of the final harvest of almost every year, the jerusalem artichokes.These tenacious tubers

have to be carefully and thoroughly excavated to stop their inexorable spread throughout the entire garden.

As usual we dried fifty percent and blended into a powder and with the other fifty percent we made some jerusalem artichoke and orange marmalade the Marmasun.

With the wild garlic we made some latkes with a little of the jerusalem artichoke powder, it helps to bind the potato together and adds a lovely flavour as well. The Nduja didnt need any help and complemented the pigeon breast well, the gentle warmth of the chillis and delicate smokey flavourmake them natural partners.

Pigeon likes a bit of sweet so the Marmasun works well let down with a little water and used as a drizzle on the plate.

A satisfying lunch and all the ingredients, apart from the spuds, were free and local.