Spatchcocked Poussin with Grape and Rosé Sauce

A couple of weeks back I don’t know why but I had overwhelming impulse for grapes. And not in the normal fruit bowl kinda way (or even sliced into a salad, which makes a surprisingly a good combination with ham I recently discovered...) but actually introducing them into my cooked dishes…. this is very much a new area of cooking ground for me! Over the last year or so I have discovered the whole fruit meat combination and embraced it thoroughly!

I think some of the original inspiration for this dish came some time back from reading an ancient copy of Good Houskeeping, involving some fishy dish with them in (though at this stage of my grape fuelled path that particular recipe does not sound at all appealing!) and also a little credit must be given to the lovely Helen of Fuss Free Flavours who posted a while back a heavenly looking dish involving baked grapes.

Overall I suppose the thoughts had been just simmering there, until I ended up with a glut of grapes after buying a punnet, and then my dad happened to also turn up with a punnet too for me (he always brings me fruit bless him!) and so rather promptly they all needed eating up and the grape-y thoughts all gently bubbled to the surface of my brain and this dish was born!

This particular recipe is slightly not for the faint hearted person but you can ask a nice butcher to do this bit for you! Compared to spatchcocking big chickens, its much easier to do the poussins, grab a nice big sharp cooks knife and it takes moments to do! My heart did sink a little at how small they were and my flatmate didn't want to look at what I was doing but its also quite satisfying in a weird kind of way..

Serves Two:

A little effort

Takes about an hour

Ingredients:

2 poussins, spatchcocked

100g seedless white grapes, halved
200ml water
1 chicken knorr pot
2 tbsp flat leafed parsley, shredded
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
½ large glass dry rosé wine
Olive oil
2 tbsp flour seasoned with s&p

Step 1: Preheat your oven 200o/ Gas 6

Step 2: After preparing the poussins, get a large roasting tin ready, lined with foil. Toss the poussins in a little olive oil to lightly coat, then dust all over with the seasoned flour. Place on the tray breastbone side up, stick a skewer through to keep them flat.

Step 3: Transfer the tin to the oven, after 10 minutes, toss the grapes in a little olive oil and scatter into the tin.

Step 4: When the chicken is almost cooked, at about 35 minutes, mix the rosé, mustard, stock pot and water add to the pan and return to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes or until cooked through. Carefully transfer the remaining liquid into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by about half, add most of the parsley after turning off the heat, reserving a pinch for serving. Season to taste.

This is pre-thickened stage!

Step 4: Serve the chicken with roasted vegetables of your choice and pour over the sauce, adding the final garnish of parsley over the top.

Alongside the poussins I also served miniature pork meatloaves, which will follow in a seperate post soon! 

Both me and my dad loved this dish - it had the sweet grapes, slightly sharp wine and a little kick of the wholegrain mustard. Enjoy!

Optional extra: Serve with remaining wine to save wastage.

With thanks to Knorr for the stock pots!