With a sharp pointed knife, cut breasts from the pigeon, keeping your knife towards the bones all the time. Trim the fillets into a nice shape and set aside.

Chop the carcasses with a heavy knife and brown well in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the vegetables, garlic, bay leaf, juniper berries and whole peppercorns and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the wine, scraping the base of the pan to release the tasty bits, and cook to reduce the wine until it has almost disappeared.

Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan, stir in the cracked peppercorns, fresh sage and half the butter, taste and add more salt if necessary.

To cook the pigeon breasts, heat the remaining butter and oil together in a large frying pan. Season the breast with salt and pepper and when the butter is foaming, add them skin-side down and adjust the heat – they should brown slowly without hardening to crispness. Cook for about 4 minutes on one side, turn and cook for 2 minutes on the other side for medium rare meat.

Place on a warm plate to rest for 2 minutes, then remove the skin and slice each breast in half. Arrange on top of buttered spinach or cabbage, spoon a little sauce over and decorate each with a sage sprig.