Gourmet: Roast Squabs with Porcini and Country Bread Salad

Okay, before we go any further, I will confess to being incredibly pleased with myself for actually locating squabs (aka pigeons) and making something with them.  Based on the number of annoying pests infesting every train station in the city, I'm at a loss for why we aren't eating more of these tender little birds, but hey, I'm doing my part.  And anything including the words garlic confit immediately has my attention.  Not a lot of meat here, but hey, you have a whole one to yourself.  And that's what really matters.

Note:  I added some chicken stock to the "bread salad" to make it more "stuffing".  Because that's what it should really be.  Stuffing.

Roast Squabs with Porcini and Country Bread Salad
From Gourmet magazine, October 2001

12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 (10-inch) round or oval sourdough loaf (1½ pounds), crust discarded
9 fresh porcini mushrooms (cèpes; ¾ pound), trimmed
3 (1-pound) squabs
3 large sprigs fresh thyme
3 tablespoons Garlic Confit Purée
6 tablespoons strained duck fat (from Garlic Confit Purée)
⅓ cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Bring 2 cups water, garlic, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to a boil, then drain in a colander. Blanch garlic in same manner 2 more times.

Cut bread into ¼-inch-thick sticks and toast on a baking sheet in middle of oven until pale golden, about 6 minutes. Leave oven on.

Peel stems of porcini with a sharp small knife just until white flesh is exposed, then quarter mushrooms lengthwise.

Pat squabs dry and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Put a sprig of thyme in cavity of each squab and divide garlic confit among cavities. Tie legs of squabs together with kitchen string and fold wings back.

Heat 2 tablespoons duck fat in a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown squabs in 2 batches, turning, about 5 minutes, transferring to a plate and reserving skillet.

Add 1½ more tablespoons duck fat to skillet and sauté porcini in 2 batches over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes (add another 1½ tablespoons duck fat to skillet for second batch). Stir in blanched garlic, toasted bread, and salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

Put a 13- by 9-inch metal baking pan on bottom rack of oven (to catch drips) and arrange squabs, breast sides up, in a small circle (without touching) on middle rack of oven directly above baking pan. Roast squabs, carefully basting once with remaining tablespoon duck fat, 15 minutes. Replace baking pan with skillet of bread salad, positioning it directly under birds. Roast squabs and bread salad until an instant-read thermometer inserted in fleshy part of a thigh (avoid bone) registers 155°F for medium meat and mushrooms in bread salad are tender, about 5 minutes. (If mushrooms are not tender, roast bread salad 5 to 8 minutes more.) Transfer squabs to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes, then halve lengthwise with poultry shears or a sharp knife.

Toss bread salad with parsley and lemon juice and serve with squabs.

Makes 3 servings

Garlic Confit Purée
12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 cup rendered duck fat

Bring 2 cups water, garlic, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to a boil in a 1½-quart saucepan, then drain in a colander. Blanch garlic in same manner 2 more times. Dry pan well with paper towels, then add garlic and cover with duck fat. Simmer, uncovered, until garlic is very tender, about 5 minutes. Drain garlic in a sieve set over a bowl, reserving fat, and purée garlic in a food processor to make confit. Cool completely before putting in cavities of squabs.