Dove

A couple of weekends ago I visited my Uncle’s ranch, hunting, or better watching people hunt dove. I’d never hunted birds before, had only shot a shotgun once, and so didn’t want to “Dick Cheney” anyone. It was the opening of dove hunting season and the birds were plentiful. Folks shot their limit and I got a lesson in dressing the birds, which isn’t a line of work I’m looking to pursue.

I’ve eaten a lot of different game birds, but don’t think I ever had dove before. My cousin and I though, made the most delicious thing I’ve eaten recently. The ingredients were jalapeño, the breast of the dove, cream cheese, and the most important ingredient –since it makes everything taste good -- bacon that was wrapped around the Jalapeño stuffed with cream cheese and the dove breast. We first cut the jalapeño in half, then quartered it and stuffed it with the cream cheese. The dove breast was then pressed against the cream cheese filled jalapeño and finally wrapped in bacon. We threw these treats on the mesquite wood fired grill and cooked them up. Man, were they tasty. Everybody was saying it was the best dove recipe. I never had dove before, but this preparation was extremely good. One thing I might want to do differently is use a different cheese. Manchego, a Spanish cheese I really like, might be a nice replacement for the cream cheese.