Roasted Poussin With Christmas Stuffing Anyone?

You can never start planning for Christmas too early!

If you are not making lists, planning dinners, getting your gift ideas organised and ticking those boxes now then when will you start?

As we hurtle towards Christmas, Circa Home have sent me some gorgeous candles from their Christmas Collection. Now you know that I am all about great food and decorating, so pairing up these scents with delicious meals is a challenge I was ready to take. Here is the Roasted Poussin with Christmas Stuffing inspired by Jill Puplex and Circa Home's Cranberry & Rosewood Fragrance.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• One red onion finely diced

• Two good pork sausages

• 75g sourdough bread, crustless

• 1/2 green apple, peeled, cored and diced

• 50g dried cranberries

• 50g currants

• 50g mixed dried peel

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

• One tablespoon thyme leaves

• Four fresh poussin, about 500g each

• Sea salt and ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 8 sprigs of marjoram

• 4 sprigs rosemary

• 4 springs of mint

• Twine to tie up the herb garnish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200c and heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan.

2. In the frying pan gently cook the onion until soft. Remove the onions and leave to cool.

3. Whiz the bread into crumbs in a food processor. Combine with the onions, sausage, apple, cranberries, currants, mixed peel, walnuts, parsley, thyme and egg. Mix lightly (but well) to make your stuffing.

4. Wipe the poussin clean and push the stuffing into the cavity.

5. Tie the two legs together with string, season well and dab with 1 tablespoon of butter.

6. Bake the poussin for 50-60mins or until the chicken is golden brown.

7. Tie the mint, rosemary and marjoram up as a garnish.

8. Remove the string from the poussin.

Cranberry sauce is a Christmas staple, and it will go perfectly with the poussin and the Cranberry & Rosewood candle scent. To bring this all together, Serve the poussin on a bed of wild rice and pine nuts. 

Wild Rice & Pine Nuts Ingredients

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 1 1/2 cups wild rice blend (or 1 cup brown rice and 1/2 cup wild rice)

• 1 tablespoon butter

• Salt and pepper

• 1/3 cup pine nuts toasted

• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Wild Rice & Pine Nuts Method

1. In a medium saucepan bring the stock, rice, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil.

2. Cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer until tender (about 45mins).

3. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10mins. Fluff the rice.

4. Add the pine nuts, parsley and olive oil to the rice and toss to combine.

5. Season with salt and pepper.