Makes 4 servings
Squab is one of our favorite birds, although we do prefer the breasts. Don’t waste the legs, though. Make the sauce from them, and after they are cooked you can strip the meat off the bone and make a little squab salad, just like a chicken salad. Squab lends itself well to fruit and quince paste combined with the earthiness of farro and the herbaceousness of spinach, which makes this a really solid dish.
Ingredients
Farro
- 1 quart water
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 cup farro
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced trimmed fennel
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 2 cups diced pumpkin or butternut squash
- 1 cup spinach leaves
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Squab and Sauce
- 5 thyme sprigs
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- Olive oil, as needed
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 squab, bones removed and reserved, breasts and legs separated
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 9 tablespoons quince paste
- 2 cups Chicken Broth
Directions
- To prepare the farro: Bring the water and 2 tbsp salt to a boil in a pot over high heat. Slowly stream the farro into the boiling water, stir, and reduce the heat to establish a simmer. Continue to simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and reserve.
- Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, add the fennel, shallot, and pumpkin and cook until tender and lightly caramelized. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. Add the reserved farro and stir in until well combined. Season the salad with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat on the stovetop.
- To prepare the squab: Combine 4 of the thyme sprigs, the orange zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a baking dish. Rub the squab breasts with the mixture and reserve.
- Preheat the oven to 200°F.
- Heat a small amount of olive oil in a sauce pot over medium heat. Put the legs and bones of the squab in the pot and cook until they are evenly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove the browned bones and legs and reserve. Add the carrot and onion to the pot and cook until the vegetables are caramelized, about 5 minutes. Stir in the celery, bay leaf, orange juice, and 1 tablespoon of the quince paste, then return the browned bones to the pot. Add the broth, bring to a simmer, and cook for 1 hour. Strain the liquid, return it to the pot, and reduce to 1 cup over medium heat.
- Heat a small amount of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and put the squab breasts, skin side down, in the hot oil.
- Cook for about 3 minutes to brown the skin, then add the remaining thyme sprig. Turn the breasts over and cook for 3 minutes more on the opposite side. Remove the breasts from the pan and reserve warm in the oven.
- Pour the fat out of the pan and add the reduced sauce. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and allow it to reduce again by one-third. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the quince paste.
- To serve: Divide the warm farro salad evenly among four serving plates. Arrange one squab breast on top of each serving of farro. Pour about 1/4 cup of the sauce onto each plate and garnish each with 1 tablespoon of quince paste.
