1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.


2. Chop the back, wing, and neck bones into small pieces. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the bones and legs and cook until golden brown. Deglaze and flambé with the cognac and cook until the liquid has evaporated.
Add the chicken stock and lower the heat to a simmer; cook until the leg meat is tender, approximately 20 minutes. Remove the legs from the pan and let cool. Season the sauce with the sherry vinegar, salt and pepper and reduce the liquid by half. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Once the legs are cool enough to handle, remove the leg meat from the bones and finely chop.


3. In a large sauté pan over high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until all the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Once cool, finely chop the mushroom mixture and combine with the braised leg meat. Season with salt and pepper.


4. Season the squab breasts with salt and pepper. In a large ovenproof sauté pan melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Sear the breasts, skin side down, until golden brown. Flip the breasts over, place the pan in the oven and roast for 4 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and place the squab on a wire rack to rest for a few minutes. Remove the breast meat from the bones and cut the breast into thin slices. Set aside and keep warm.


5. Prepare a very hot grill. Rub the sliced sourdough bread with the cut garlic. Grill the bread on both sides to obtain a good charred flavor. While the bread is grilling, in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, cook the foie gras for 3 minutes on each side. Drain the foie gras on layers of paper towels.


6. Divide the mushroom-leg mixture evenly among the toasted sliced bread. Place a piece of foie gras on top of the mushroom mixture and place the sliced breast meat on top of the foie gras. Keep warm.

To Serve: Warm the sauce, if necessary. Place the assembled bread slices on the center of four warm dinner plates. Spoon the sauce over the squab meat and around the plate.
At the Café we serve this dish with a mâche salad tossed in truffle vinaigrette.

To Drink: 1995 Lafont Rochet