Poussins with black grapes, juniper and saba recipe
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Saba – also called vincotto – is cooked grape must. You can buy it from melburyandappleton.co.uk, or in Italian delicatessens. If you can't get hold of saba, use a mix of half balsamic vinegar and half grape juice. Serve these poussins roasted on bunches of grapes with buttered cabbage and crispy potatoes.
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 45-50 minutes
SERVES
Four
INGREDIENTS
12 juniper berries, lightly crushed
25g butter, slightly softened
4 poussins
1 large onion, sliced
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
4½ tbsp olive oil
300g seedless black grapes, off their stalks
300g seedless black grapes, on their stalks, in small bunches
4 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
250ml red wine
75ml saba
METHOD
Mash half of the juniper berries into the butter, season with pepper and set aside. Gently ease the skin off the breast of the poussins (at the cavity opening), just enough to be able to stuff a quarter of the butter under the skin of each bird – be gentle so you don't tear it. Season the birds inside.
Put the onion and celery in the bottom of an ovenproof dish that will hold the grapes and poussins snugly in a single layer. Season and stir in two tablespoons of olive oil. Using a wooden spoon and bowl (or a mortar and pestle), roughly crush the stalkless grapes so that the juice starts to come out. Lay the poussins and the little bunches of grapes on the vegetables and spoon the crushed grapes around them. Tuck in the bay leaves and thyme. Season, sprinkle with the rest of the crushed juniper berries and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the grapes and poussins.
Mix the wine with the saba and pour it around the poussins. Put into an oven preheated to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5 and roast for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the grapes are slightly shrunken in places and the poussins are cooked. You need to baste the birds every so often. To test for doneness check the juices that are running from the birds between the leg and the body – they should be clear with no trace of pink. Serve, preferably in the dish in which the poussins have been cooked, with buttered cabbage. Spelt, faro, barley or olive-oil roasted potatoes are all good on the side, too.
