Grilled Spiced Squab
From elgourmand2 7 years ago
- 45 Min to make
- Serves 2-3
Forget the pigeons in the park. True, those scrawny birds you see in cities, feeding on any sort of garbage they can find, are a real turn-off. However, my flock are semi wild country birds. Their diet is mostly coconut and other fruit. Read more My Samoan family supplies all the coconut I could hope to use and the bush around my place abounds in fruits and berries. Fortunately, chickens, ducks and pigeons all love and thrive on coconut. So forget the pigeons in the park and think healthy, well fed game birds. This dish is a bit of work and sort of a special occasion thing or fun when the weather’s a bit junk and I feel like spending some time puttering around in the kitchen. The recipe presumes you bought the squab from the butcher. I’ve never tried it but you should be able to broil these. See less
Ingredients
- • 6 squab (Pigeon), about 1 pound each shopping list
- • 4 cloves garlic, peeled shopping list
- • A 2-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and sliced shopping list
- • 2 Tbs. aniseed, pan-toasted and crushed shopping list
- • ½ tsp. Saffron threads or Turmeric. shopping list
- • 1 Tbs. paprika shopping list
- • 1 tsp. cayenne shopping list
- • ½ cup lemon juice shopping list
- • 1 small bunch fresh coriander, chopped, about 4 Tbs. shopping list
- • 4 green onions or scallions, chopped, about 4 Tbs. shopping list
- • 1 ½ cup light olive oil shopping list
- • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste shopping list
How to make it
- 1. Remove heads and feet from squab. Insert a sharp knife through neck cavity and carefully split each bird down the back, keeping breast intact. Remove backbone, then carefully remove breastbone, cartilage and ribs. The bird should look like a butterfly, with only wing and leg bones attached.
- 2. Place garlic cloves and ginger in your food processor, and blend to a paste. Add aniseed, saffron, paprika, cayenne and lemon juice, and blend about 30 seconds to combine. Transfer blended ingredients to a mixing bowl, add chopped coriander and green onions and whisk in olive oil. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- 3. Place squab in a shallow ceramic or enameled dish, add spice marinade and turn to coat well. Cover and refrigerate overnight (turning once or twice if you remember). Bring to room temperature before grilling.
- 4. Preheat broiler or outdoor grill to highest temperature. Sprinkle squab with salt. Grill squab, skin-side-up, for 4 minutes, and then turn to grill 3 minutes, skin-side-down. Baste frequently with marinade while cooking. Test for doneness: squab are best served rare. Suggested times are for a very hot fire. A home broiler will take longer than mesquite or charcoal briquettes.
- 5. Serve with couscous, rice or a combination of bulgur wheat and rice, sprinkled with minced green onions and accompanied by a lemon wedge.
- I always have trouble with the 4 minutes this side and 3 minutes that side and wind up flipping the birds 3-4 times and marinating them each time. The 7 minutes total seems to work fine.
People Who Like This Dish 1
- clbacon Birmingham, AL
- elgourmand2 APia, Samoa
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