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Epicurious
Gourmet

Grilled Herbed Poussins

By Maggie Ruggiero

4.8

(20)

Image may contain Food Meal Dish Animal and Bird
Grilled Herbed PoussinsMikkel Vang

An herb paste smeared onto these birds adds a concentrated taste of summer; this works nicely with the poussins, since they're small enough to cook through before the herbs can threaten to burn.

Cooks' notes:

•Poussins can be rubbed with herb paste 1 day ahead and chilled.
•To cook poussins indoors, brown them as above in a hot large ridged grill pan over medium-high heat, then cover with an inverted roasting pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 18 minutes.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped basil
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
2 fresh bay leaves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 small garlic cloves, chopped
4 poussins (1 to 1 1/4 pound each) or small Cornish hens, backbones cut out and birds split in half

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Blend together herbs, oil, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a blender until finely chopped, then rub all over poussins.

    Step 2

    Prepare grill for indirect-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure .

    Step 3

    Oil grill rack, then grill poussins, skin sides down first, directly over coals, turning once, until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Move poussins to area with no coals underneath and grill, covered, until just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer poussins to a platter and let stand 10 minutes.

TagsPoultryMainDinnerDairy FreeGluten FreeNut FreeKetoEasyQuickGrillingBlenderGourmet

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