Sous Vide Squab Pigeon | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Squab Pigeon, Pearl Barley and Truffle Risotto, Foie Gras and Hay-Smoked Offal Brochette

COOK TIME: 3 Hours
PREP TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Difficult
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

Squab pigeons

2 squab pigeons

For the pigeon legs

1 sprig of thyme
1 garlic clove, crushed
25g of butter
25g of vegetable oil
salt

Gnocchi

250g of potato
50g of 00 flour
1 egg
flour, for dusting
1 egg yolk
panko breadcrumbs
salt

Parmesan tuille

50g of Parmesan, finely grated

Pearly barley risotto

100g of pearl barley
100ml of veal stock
25ml of double cream
50g of sweetcorn kernels, cooked
1 summer truffle, small, freshly grated

To plate

200g of foie gras, cut into 4 pieces
2 baby corn
4 sprigs of thyme
baby cress
hay, for smoking

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of Mark Jordan from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 62⁰C.
To prepare the pigeons for cooking, trim off the legs, then gut the birds and discard the innards, except for the hearts and livers.
Rub a pinch of salt into the pigeon legs, then seal them inside a vacuum bag with the garlic, thyme, butter and oil. You will need to use a chamber sealer, rather than a bar sealer, to do this.
Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook for 2 hours.
Set the vacuum bag containing the legs to one side to cool. Keep the water bath switched on, turning the temperature down to 55⁰C.
Submerge the gutted pigeons in a large saucepan of boiling water. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove the birds and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
Place the blanched birds in a very hot frying pan. Sear over a high heat until browned all over. Remove the birds, then add the pigeon legs to the empty pan and fry until browned.
Allow the birds to cool slightly, then neatly slice off the breasts.
Place the pigeon breasts and legs in a vacuum bag. Add a sprig of thyme and some crushed garlic, then seal in a chamber sealer. Leave the bag to poach in the water bath until you are ready to serve.
Preheat the oven to a temperature of 180⁰C/gas mark 4.
To make the gnocchi, place the potato in the oven and cook until soft all the way through. This should take approximately 40 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes used.
Scoop out the soft flesh inside the potatoes and press through a fine drum sieve to create a smooth mash. Make the mashed potato into a rectangle on the work surface, cover with the 00 flour and crack the egg on the top. Knead very gently to combine the ingredients, being careful not to overwork the dough. Once mixed, shape the dough into a long, thin cylinder and chop into short lengths, then roll each length into a ball.
Fill a large, shallow saucepan with water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Stir the water in one direction to create a whirlpool, then drop the gnocchi into the centre. Simmer until the gnocchi float, then drain the pan. Refresh the gnoochi in iced water and leave to dry on kitchen paper.
Dust the gnocchi all over with flour, then dip them in egg yolk and finally coat them with panko breadcrumbs.
To make the Parmesan tuille, spread the grated parmesan over a sheet of baking parchment and microwave for 30 seconds. Allow to cool, then snap into shards.
Next, prepare the pearl barley for the risotto. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the pearl barley and cook until tender. This should take approximately 15 minutes. Once cooked, tip the water away and leave the drained barley to cool.
Preheat the deep-fryer to a temperature of 180⁰C.
Make the offal brochettes by halving the pigeon hearts and livers and skewering the pieces onto 4 sprigs of thyme. Fry the brochettes for a few minutes in a very hot frying pan, then sprinkle with salt and set aside. Leave the pan on the heat.
Place the pieces of foie gras in the hot pan and sear, turning as necessary, until golden all over. Take the foie gras out of the pan and add salt to taste. Again, leave the pan on the heat.
Add the baby sweetcorn to the pan and fry until cooked through, then remove from the pan and slice in half.
To finish the gnocchi, cook them in the deep-fryer for 2 minutes until golden brown.
To make the risotto, place the barley, veal stock and double cream in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring continually, until thoroughly combined, then add the parmesan, sweetcorn kernels and freshly grated truffle and remove from the heat.
To serve, place 3 gnocchi and a spoonful of pearl barley risotto in the centre of each plate. Take the pigeon meat out of the water bath and halve the breasts. Add 1 leg and half a breast to each plate, placing the breast meat on top of the risotto and propping the leg up against one of the gnocchi. Finish the plate with a piece of foie gras, half of one of the baby corn, a garnish of baby cress and a shard of Parmesan tuille.
For the hay-smoked brochette, you will need 4 hollowed out stones. Push a small ball of hay into each stone and balance an offal brochette on top. Carefully light the hay with a blowtorch and cover with a cloche. Serve immediately with the plates of pigeon, gnocchi and risotto.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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