Most dove recipes call for lightly grilling bacon-wrapped breasts over charcoal. This particular recipe was my first attempt at cooking anything, but the results were worth repeating. It may be a bit much for doves, but it convinced me. It also works great with Mallard ducks which can be improved by stuffing the breast with whole fresh mushrooms.

- Larry Copenhaver

INGREDIENTS

• Dove breasts – at least 6 per person
• Onions cut into 1/8ths or at least in small wedges
• Butter pats
• Black pepper
• Celery salt
• Blackberry wine (Manneschevitz or Mogen-David works well)

PREPARATIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Along each side of the dove breastbone, make a slit to the bone.
• Lightly sprinkle top and bottom with celery salt and black pepper.
• Insert a small onion wedge and butter pat in each slit.
• Place in small shallow roast pan or cake pan, point of breast up. Try to keep breasts fairly crowded.
• Splash each breast with wine so that excess wine covers 1/3rd of the bottom of the pan. Cover and place in oven.
• Roast until meat falls from breast, baste every 20 minutes. This could take a while, maybe 2 hours, but it’s worth it! Pull pan from oven, remove dove breasts to a platter, set aside.
• Place on the stovetop, add medium heat until broth bubbles. Thicken with mixture of 1 tablespoon corn starch in 1 cup warm water. Add a small portion of the mixture at a time, stir with a whisk, allow broth to thicken for 1 minute each time until it is a consistency you like. Some like a light sauce, some prefer a thick gravy.
• Serve over rice with a green salad on the side or wild asparagus, picked last spring and frozen.