Whenever I see a poussin, I think of how much my mother loved to roast cornish game hens and how much we loved the days that she did. It seems to me that little birds have a lot more flavor. I’ve got to find some quail!
Because of my Fresh Paradise market baby boks, I wanted the poussin to have an Asian flavor so I cut her up the back, mashed her down and sprinkled with 5 spice. No time for a marinade.
For the bok choy, just cut them in half, wash and saute with garlic and ginger.
Poussin a l’Asie
1 poussin
5 spice powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 star anise
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup chicken broth
Cut the back bone from the poussin with kitchen shears, flatten and sprinkle with 5 spice powder, salt and pepper. Rub the poussin all over with olive oil, then refrigerate for about 1 hour. In a hot skillet, sear the poussin skin side down for 8 minutes, turn and brown the other side for 7 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Pour the tablespoon of olive oil into the skillet, add the shallots and star anise, then saute until the shallots are soft. Add the soy sauce, honey and chicken broth, bring to a boil, add the poussin, coating it in the sauce, then cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Slice the poussin in half and serve with noodles and bok choy.
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Love the flavour profiles. I haven’t done small birds yet but I should try them. I see cornish hens at the store.
I still love cornish game hens and they are usually on sale in the States 🙂
I need to find a local source. The ones they sell in the store are mass produced as far as I can tell. Need to do that with the duck as well.
Do you have a local poultry source? I need to find one this summer when we go to our house in Pennsylvania. That’s been worrying me.
I can find chickens and turkeys so far. I haven’t seen duck or other fowl.
I love it when you spatchcock birds 🙂 Looks great, Rosemary!
I never spatchcock, Daisy. I butterfly 🙂
Haha! Touché 🙂
Oh this sounds wonderful with soy sauce and star anise! I love game hens so I will have to try this. That baby bok choy is beautiful too…what’s better than great produce?
Nothing better, Lesley.
I’m with you, small birds are our favorites. Lucky for us, we can get great NC quail, the last ones we had, the buckshot was still in the birds. The hunter was quite a marksman as the shot was all in the heads and left the delicious tender breasts and tiny drumsticks to smack our lips and celebrate the quails destiny. We just grilled some Cornish hens on Sunday after marinating in citrus and ginger for a few hours. YUM! Love birds, They taste so good!
I would really hate it if there were foreign objects in my quail! That citrus ginger sounds like a winner. I’ll have to remember that.
Elegant in its simplicity. Lovely.
Thank you.
You have such a creative and quick way of combining ingredients, this looks fantastic!
Thank you Barbara.
That bird looks absolutely delicious. I love the flavors of soy sauce, honey and 5 spice. Lovely post.
Thanks Anne.
Love these little suckers!
Yeah!