Diana Henry shares her recipe for thyme, oregano and citrus roasted poussins from her debut cookbook Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons. It's a gloriously aromatic dish that tastes fantastic and looks stunning.
You can pick up the new 2024 edition of Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons here.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 poussins
- 4 oranges, skin left on, cut into large wedges
- olive oil
For the marinade
- finely grated zest of 1 orange, plus the juice of 4
- finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
- 6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 125ml (4fl oz) olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- leaves from about 6 thyme sprigs
To serve
- 3 tablespoons dried Greek
- oregano (rigani)
Method
Mix all the marinade ingredients together, seasoning with salt and pepper. Put the poussins, breast side-down, into the marinade, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight. Move the poussins around every so often so that all the sides get a chance to soak in the marinade.
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan (350°F), Gas 4.
Take the poussins out of the marinade and put them into a roasting tin with the orange wedges. Drizzle a little extra oil over the oranges and season them. Roast in the oven for 50 minutes, spooning the marinade over everything as it cooks.
When the poussins are cooked, drain off the pan juices, skim off the fat and slightly reduce the juices in a saucepan by boiling for a few minutes, until you have something with the consistency of light gravy.
Serve the poussins surrounded by the orange wedges, with the juices, sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
For more gloriously sumptuous recipes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa, pick up the new 2024 edition of Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons here.