2758. ROASTED HAMILTON POUSSIN wrapped with STREAKY BACON and stuffed with POTATOES and SAGE

serves four 


4 poussin chickens 
12 rashers dry-curled streaky bacon 
1 lb. potato, peeled 
handful fresh sage or handful fresh rosemary, or handful fresh thyme 
12 cloves garlic, peeled 
1 1/2 cups white wine
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper 
olive oil

Preheat your oven and an appropriately sized roasting tray to 425 to 450 degrees. Boil your potatoes in salted water until perfectly cooked (don't overcook). Drain and allow to cool. Remove any fat from inside the chicken cavity. Wash and pat dry with kitchen paper. Slice your potatoes thickly, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add your freshly torn herbs and enough olive oil just to coat. Toss over and then stuff your chickens with the potatoes. Place them into the tray with about 12 cloves of garlic and cook for 30 minutes. After this time, the chicken should be looking as handsome as its inventor and the skin should be crisp and golden. At this point, lay your streaky bacon snugly over the breast meat and add a 1/2 cup of wine to the pan to get some sticky marmitey juices happening. Cook for another 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven. Take them out of the tray and allow them to rest for 5 minutes while you make a quick bit of gravy. I normally remove as much fat as possible from the tray before placing on gentle heat. Splash the remaining 1 cup of white wine into it. Then boil up and scrape away all the goodness from the sides of the tray. Simmer this for a couple of minutes until tasty. It's not a thick, robust gravy, just a tasty gesture. Served with something nice and green like steamed spinach and the potatoes pulled out from the chickens.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Jamie Oliver, Naked Chef, for Asian Food Channel, 3 Fusionopolis Way, 12-21 Symbiosis, Singapore 138633

590. POUSSIN STUFFED with CHESTNUT, RED CABBAGE and BACON

yields 4 servings


FOR THE STUFFING
5 oz. whole chestnut
3¼ oz. chestnut purée
8 oz. sliced red cabbage
1¾ oz. slab bacon, diced and cooked
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
3 tablespoons chopped onions
10 grams fresh marjoram
10 grams fresh thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper

FOR THE POUSSIN
4 grain fed poussin
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons butter
8 bacon slices for wrapping the poussin
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt the butter and the oil together in a hot sautéing pan over a medium-high heat. Caramelize the onions, the garlic the leeks then add the bacon and cook for about 2 minutes. Slice the cabbage and lightly sauté it in some butter, in a medium pan over a medium heat for about 4 minutes. Remove the bacon mixture from pan add the chestnut purée and the chestnut pieces and set aside to cool. Once cool, add the marjoram and thyme. Separate the stuffing into 4 equal parts.

Take the poussin and season the inside. Stuff it with the mixture. Close it by wrapping the bird with the bacon slices.

Melt the oil and butter in a hot roasting pan. Sear the poussin on all sides until golden. Put it in the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cut the poussin in two to show the chestnut stuffing. Serve with Brussels sprouts and pan jus poured around.


courtesy of: Chef Georges Laurier, Executive Chef & owner of Laurier Sur Montcalm, Hull, Quebec

257. ROASTED HAMILTON POUSSIN WRAPPED with BACON and STUFFED with POTATOES and SAGE

serves 4


1 lb. potatoes, peeled and quartered
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 poussin chickens, or Cornish game hens
1 handful of fresh sage, thyme or rosemary (all are good)
olive oil
about 12 cloves of garlic
12 strips of lean bacon
1 glass of dry white wine

Preheat your oven and an appropriately sized roasting pan to 425 degrees F. Boil your potatoes in salted water until nearly cooked. Drain and allow to cool, then put them in a bowl. Remove any fat from inside of each chicken cavity. Wash and pat dry with paper towels. Season the potatoes with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add your freshly torn herbs and enough olive oil just to coat, and toss. Then stuff your chickens with half your potatoes and herbs. Put them in the roasting pan with the garlic and the rest of the potatoes and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. After this time the chicken should be looking as handsome as its inventor and the skin should be crisp and golden. If you are using Cornish game hens larger than poussins, you may need to cook them a bit longer. At this point lay your bacon snugly over the breast meat. Cook for around another 15 minutes.

Remove the chickens from the oven. Take them out of the pan and allow them to rest for 5 minutes while you make a quick gravy. I normally remove as much fat as possible from the pan before placing it on a burner over gentle heat. Splash a glass of white wine into it. Then boil and scrape away all the goodness from the sides of the pan. Simmer this for a couple of minutes. It's not a thick, robust gravy, just a tasty gesture. (A nice option at this point is to add a little cream to the gravy, which works really well.) Served with something nice and green like steamed spinach or chard, and the potatoes pulled out from inside the chickens, it all goes down a treat. Nice one, John.


courtesy of: The Naked Chef Takes Off, by Jamie Oliver. New York: Hyperion, 2000. p. 183 / Johnny Boy Hamilton