Roast Squab with Cherry, Cocoa Nib and Beetroot

⏱ 95 min · Serves 2

A proper restaurant plate: rosy-breasted squab roasted on the crown, served with a glossy cherry and red wine sauce sharpened with vinegar and finished with bitter cocoa nibs, plus earthy roast beetroot and a silky beet purée. Rich, dark and faintly wild — the sort of dish that silences a table.

Per serving: 785 kcal · 56.0g protein · 32.0g carbs · 45.0g fat

Ingredients

• 2 whole squab pigeons (approx. 450g each), oven-ready
• 3 medium beetroot (about 400g)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 20g cocoa nibs
• 150g fresh or frozen cherries, pitted
• 150ml red wine (Pinot Noir or similar)
• 300ml good chicken or game stock
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp redcurrant jelly or honey
• 40g cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, bruised
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 tbsp double cream
• Flaky sea salt and black pepper
• Watercress, to serve

Method

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan. Wrap 2 beetroot in foil with a splash of oil and salt and roast for 50–60 minutes until tender. Peel the third beetroot, dice and boil in salted water for 20 minutes until soft.
2. Remove the legs from each squab and set aside; keep the crowns (breasts on the bone) whole. Chop any wing tips and backbone for the sauce.
3. Make the sauce: brown the chopped bones and the shallot in a little oil in a saucepan. Add wine, garlic and thyme, and reduce by two-thirds. Add stock and simmer gently for 25 minutes, then strain into a clean pan.
4. Add the cherries and redcurrant jelly to the strained sauce and simmer 5 minutes, until the cherries soften and the sauce coats a spoon. Sharpen with sherry vinegar; season. Keep warm.
5. Blitz the boiled diced beetroot with the cream, 10g of the butter and a pinch of salt until glass-smooth. Pass through a sieve if you want it flawless. Keep warm.
6. Peel and quarter the roasted beetroot, toss with oil, salt and a few cocoa nibs, and keep warm.
7. Season the squab crowns and legs. Sear the crowns in an ovenproof pan with oil, breast-side down, for 3 minutes until deeply coloured; turn, add the legs, add thyme and a knob of butter and baste. Roast for 8–10 minutes for pink breast.
8. Rest the birds, breast-side down, for 10 minutes in a warm place. Whisk the remaining cold butter into the cherry sauce off the heat until glossy.
9. Carve the breasts from the crowns. Sweep beetroot purée across warm plates, add the roasted beetroot wedges, then the breasts and legs. Spoon over the cherry sauce, scatter generously with cocoa nibs and finish with watercress and flaky salt.