Chartreuse of Pigeon

Fillets of young pigeon with carrots, turnips and mashed potatoes.

Peel an equal quantity of carrots and turnips and cut them into small balls with a vegetable cutter and boil them separately in salt and water, keeping them a little firm. Drain, wipe them on a cloth and leave them till cold. Cut the fillets off some young pigeons, trim away the sinewy skin, beat them lightly, season with salt and pepper and lay them in a buttered sautepan. Thickly butter a plain border mould, arrange the vegetable balls in circles alternately round the sides, fill the hollow of the mould with potatoes that have been boiled and mashed with a little butter and stand the mould in a bain-marie for an hour. When ready, fry the fillets over a quick fire, turning them. After they are cooked, drain off the butter, pour over two or three tablespoonfuls of glaze, and keep them hot. Turn the decorated border out of the mould onto a hot dish and fill the center with some chopped and cooked vegetables that have been mixed with some bechamel sauce. Arrange the fillets almost upright on the border letting them slightly overlap each other, and serve with a sauceboatful of brown sauce which has been prepared with the legs and trimmings of the pigeons.