Braised Squab in a Mold of Vegetables
Submitted by gemini
Elegant braised squab nestled in buttery cabbage and bacon, unmolded in a mosaic of turnips, carrots, and broccoli with a rich veal jus. A showstopping French-inspired centerpiece.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
60 minREADY
100 minThis is restaurant-caliber cooking at its finest, and yes, you can pull it off at home.
Four squabs are browned in clarified butter, then braised on a bed of bacon-laced cabbage until the meat turns impossibly tender.
The real showpiece? Each serving is assembled in a souffle mold lined with a mosaic of thinly sliced turnips and carrots, crowned with a single broccoli floret at the center. When you unmold it at the table, the gasps are worth every minute of effort.
A silky veal stock sauce, built from the roasted wings and bones, ties the whole production together.
Pro Tips
- Brown the wings and necks first and keep them for the sauce. Every scrap of squab flavor belongs in that jus.
- Clarified butter is non-negotiable here. Regular butter will burn during the high-heat browning and leave bitter notes.
- Slice your turnips and carrots paper-thin (about ⅛ inch) with a mandoline for uniform mold walls that hold their shape.
- Press the cabbage layers firmly into the mold. Air pockets are the enemy of a clean unmold.
- These molds can be assembled ahead and refrigerated. Just add an extra 10 minutes of oven time when reheating.
Ingredients
Directions
Squabs and Sauce: Brown pigeon wings and neck in the oven and reserve.
This will tend to darken the sauce and bring out the flavor of the squab bones.
Salt and pepper the squab inside and out.
In a large sauté pan, heat butter (do not use too much butter or birds will deep fry).
Add the squabs and brown carefully on every side.
Place the birds in warm spot.
Discard the used butter from the pan, and add four tablespoons of fresh clarified butter.
Add bacon and onions to the pan and sauté to a blond color.
Add cabbages.
Cook over low heat for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add veal stock to cover the contents of the pan and adjust the seasonings.
Bring to a boil.
Place the squabs on the cabbage in the sauté pan then brush with clarified butter, and cook in a 450℉ (230℃) for 10 minutes.
Remove the squabs from the pan, bone them and put the bones in the saucepan with the previously cut wings and necks.
Reserve the squab meat.
Into the saucepan with the necks, wings and bones, strain the juice from the cabbage mixture.
Add veal stock if liquid is needed.
Reserve the cabbage.
Over medium heat, cook the strained cabbage juice and bones for at least one-half hour, then strain through chinois and reserve the sauce.
Vegetables and Molds: Cook the carrots, turnips, and broccoli in heavily salted water until crisp.
Cool the vegetables in a bowl placed in ice water.
Select the largest turnip, slice it at its widest part into 4 slices, about an ⅛ inch thick and about 3½ inches in diameter.
In the middle of each of these turnip slices, cut a round hole about the size of a quarter or slightly larger.
Cut the remaining turnips and carrots into 40 rectangular slices about 3½ inch by 1 inch by ⅛ inch.
On the bottom of 4 buttered 4-inch souffle molds, place one each of the large turnip slices.
Arrange the remaining vegetables slices around the inside edge of the molds, alternating carrot and turnip slices.
Place a broccoli flower, stem off and head down, into the hole in the bottom of each mold.
This will be the centerpiece of your mold when unmolded later.
Cover the broccoli with one layer of cabbage packed well over and between the broccoli and vegetables.
Top this cabbage layer with a layer of squab meat.
Add more cabbage, pressing hard to form the mixture at the top of the mold.
Place the molds of squab and cabbage onto a small sheet pan.
Surround the molds with a little water (a ¼ inch in depth or a little more).
Put a small sheet of buttered parchment paper on each mold (butter side down).
Reheat for 20 minutes in your oven at 450℉ (230℃).
(Note: If molds are not to be cooked until a later time, they should remain in the oven about 20 minutes on low heat before being cooled and stored away in a refrigerator.)
Unmold on serving plates.
Spoon warmed sauce around molds and serve.
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