Squab With Pears Food

SQUAB WITH MUSHROOMS AND PEARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together bacon, pear and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.
• Rinse and dry squabs. Rub with butter. Stuff cavity of each with 3 sprigs thyme, 3 sage leaves and a clove of garlic. Place in baking dish and roast for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and roast 10 minutes more. Remove from oven. Wrap each squab in foil to keep warm.
• Stir wine into baking dish, scraping the bottom. Spread the mushroom mixture into the baking dish and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in stock. Increase oven temperature to 475 degrees. Unwrap squabs and place them on top of the mushroom mixture. Return the baking dish to the oven for 5 minutes.
• Remove squabs to a cutting board. Spread mushroom mixture, including any juices in the pan, on a warm serving platter. Using poultry or kitchen shears, or a sharp heavy knife, cut the squabs in quarters. Arrange on the platter and garnish with thyme sprigs.

PAN SEARED SQUAB WITH RICE DRESSING AND PORT REDUCTION

Steps:

• Sauce: Reduce the port with the shallots and thyme sprigs until 1/4 cup remains. Add the poultry stock and reduce by 1/3. Strain and reserve. Before serving bring to a boil and reduce until thick and glossy, and the last minute mount in the foie gras into the boiling sauce and season.
• Rice: Sweat 1/2 cup onions in melted butter and add rice. Lightly toast rice coating evenly with butter and onions. Add hot stock and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is tender. Cool on a lined sheet tray. Store until needed. Cut up hearts and gizzards into small pieces, trim off sinew. Place in small sauce pot, cover by 2 inches with cold water with a bay leaf and crushed garlic. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Clean the livers, free from veins and dry on paper towels. In a large saute pan add peanut oil when hot season livers with salt and cayenne and quickly sear them on both sides. Set them aside to cool. Add onions, celery and garlic to the pan. Using a wood spoon, scrape the fond off the pan as the vegetables cook. Season with salt and pepper. When vegetables are tender, deglaze with brandy, allow alcohol to burn off. Scape everything out of the pan and store with the livers. When all ingredients are cooled, hearts, gizzards, livers, and vegetables place them all in a food processor. Puree until smooth paste results. Store dirty rice base under refrigeration at all times. In a sauce pan place 4 tablespoons base with rice and 8 ounces of stock, heat through. Add green onions and chopped parsley.
• Pan seared squab: Remove each side of the squab in one piece. Snip the wing tips off. In a hot saute pan add 2 tablespoons olive oil when oil begins to ripple place squab, skin side down or 6 to 8 minutes or until skin is a nice even golden brown. Turn to sear on other side for 8 to ten minutes. If not cooked through place in oven to finish. Mound rice on preheated plates and lay squab decoratively. Drizzle with port reduction.

LACQUERED SQUAB W/ GINGERED CABBAGE AND FENNEL-PEAR PUREE

Steps:

• For the Sichuan pepper-salt:.
• In a small heavy-bottomed pot, slowly roast the salt and peppercorns over low-medium heat until very aromatic, about 20 minutes.
• Cool; grind in a spice grinder and sift through fine sieve and set aside.
• For the Fennel-Pear Purée:.
• Combine the fennel, pears, verjus, anise, sugar and salt in a heavy-bottom pot.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until everything is very tender, about 30 minutes.
• Remove the star anise and purée in a high-speed blender until smooth.
• Adjust the seasoning and pass through a fine sieve and keep warm until ready to serve (should be about i cup of puree).
• For the Gingered Napa Cabbage.
• Chop the cabbage and radicchio into 1-inch dice.
• Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat.
• Sauté the cabbage, spinach and radicchio separately until tender, about 5 to 6 minutes each.
• While the cabbage and radicchio are sautéing, use a mortar and pestle to reduce the ginger, garlic and scallions to a paste.
• Return all the sautéed greens to the pan.
• Add the ginger, garlic and scallion paste to the greens and cook until aromatic, about 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the raisins, vinegar, salt and sugar. Remove from the stove and dress with sesame oil (should be about 2 cups of the cabbage mixture).
• For the Squab and assembly.
• One hour before cooking, season the squab on both sides with the Sichuan pepper-salt (use as much as you like--at least 1/2 teaspoon).
• Put the honey in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes until it becomes reduced and thick. Set aside.
• Grill the squabs, skin side down over high heat until golden brown and crispy, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Turn; sear the other sides for 1 to 2 minutes and then rest the squab on a plate for 5 minutes (the squab will be medium-rare).
• Brush the skin sides with a thin coat of warm honey.
• Return it to the hot grill before serving to lightly caramelize the skin for 1 minute on each side.
• Carve the squabs, slicing the breast meat.
• On a serving platter, make a line of the hot fennel-pear purée from one end to the other. Arrange the gingered cabbage in the center and the carved squabs around it.
• Arrange the legs standing up against the cabbage.
• Sprinkle Sichuan pepper-salt on the sliced breast.
• Dust the plate with Chinese 5-spice powder.

SQUAB WITH PEARS

Steps:

• Place a rack in middle of oven, and heat to 500 degrees. In a saucepan just large enough to hold pears in one layer, bring chicken stock, red wine and red wine vinegar to a boil. Add pears in one layer, and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through. Take 2 pear halves, and cut into chunks. Keep remaining pears covered to keep warm. In a blender, puree chunks with poaching liquid.
• Bring 1 3/4 cups of water to a boil. Add bulgur, and return to the boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover pan, and cook 15 minutes.
• While bulgur is cooking and pears are poaching, rub each squab with pear brandy, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place squabs in a roasting pan, and roast for 16 to 17 minutes, or until juices run clear.
• Drain any remaining water from bulgur, fluff with fork, stir in butter, and allow it to melt. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• When squabs are roasted, remove to a platter. If pears have cooled, reheat in microwave for 2 minutes. Place roasting pan on stove over medium heat. Pour in 1/3 cup water, and boil, scraping up any browned bits on bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in pear puree and cardamom, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in scallions. Spoon some sauce over birds and bulgur, and pass the rest.