Recipe Poussin with Pistachio, Sumac and Orange

Morning Glory

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This is a very easy tray bake yet it looks rather dramatic. You could substitute chicken pieces for the poussin. Sumac has a citrus edge which works well with the sweetness of pistachio and the nutty toasted sesame oil. Garlic cloves are baked unpeeled and whole, to squeeze out when the dish is served.

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Ingredients
1 poussin, jointed
Buttermilk
2 tbsp ground pistachio nuts pluse a few slivered pistachios to garnish
1 tbsp sumac
A pinch of salt
1 orange, thinly sliced
1 red onion, sliced
1 head of garlic divided in to cloves (no need to peel)
200ml water
Toasted sesame oil to drizzle
Aleppo pepper to sprinkle
Coriander leaves

Method
  1. Place the jointed poussin in a bowl and cover with buttermilk. Leave to marinate overnight.
  2. Heat the oven to 180 C.
  3. Remove the poussin pieces and set aside while you make the coating.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix 5 tbsp of the buttermilk with pistachios and sumac and a little salt.
  5. Arrange the onion, orange slices, and garlic cloves on a baking tray. Dip each piece of chicken in the buttermilk mixture and arrange over the top.
  6. Add the water to the base of the tray. Drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle with Aleppo pepper.
  7. Bake for 45 mins or until the poussin is cooked through. Check halfway through and add a little more water if required. Garnish with coriander leaves and slivered pistachio.
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Is poussin noticeably different (better) than chicken of normal age? I'm curious about the fat content, in particular. Is it higher or lower than regular chicken?

CD
 
Ahh, this looks good and we have everything but the Orange. I think it will go on the menu next week. What kind of side, like rice, potatoes, noodles, etc., would you serve with it?
 
Just put a half recipe of this together using chicken thighs. Will go in the oven on a few hours. Wild rice blend on the side.
 
I grossly over estimated how many pistachios it would take to make 1 Tbsp (I was making a half recipe.) so I ended up making a full recipe of the buttermilk/pistachio/sumac mix, maybe a little more pistachio even than the full recipe as it was more like a paste. So, I ended up just spreading it on both sides of the chicken thighs. As I wrote on the dinner thread I would go really heavy on the Aleppo pepper sprinkle and I would also supreme/segment the Orange instead of slicing to get rid of the pith (though it might not be as pretty) and put the zest in the buttermilk/pistachio/sumac mix. We have settings of regular roast and convection roast on our oven, as do a lot of ovens in the US, and I used the regular roast, so there was a lot of water left over. So, either I'll remember to use convection roast (which I think a lot of European ovens are?) or I'll cut down on the water some.

This was a really easy dish to put together, just have to remember to start the night before, and was very tasty. The changes above are either just to suit our tastes or happy accidents/mistakes I made in the preparation. The wild rice I served with it was a great accompaniment
 
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I grossly over estimated how many pistachios it would take to make 1 Tbsp (I was making a half recipe.) so I ended up making a full recipe of the buttermilk/pistachio/sumac mix, maybe a little more pistachio even than the full recipe as it was more like a paste. So, I ended up just spreading it on both sides of the chicken thighs. As I wrote on the dinner thread I would go really heavy on the Aleppo pepper sprinkle and I would also supreme/segment the Orange instead of slicing to get rid of the pith (though it might not be as pretty) and put the zest in the buttermilk/pistachio/sumac mix. We have settings of regular roast and convection roast on our oven, as do a lot of ovens in the US, and I used the regular roast, so there was a lot of water left over. So, either I'll remember to use convection roast (which I think a lot of European ovens are?) or I'll cut down on the water some.

This was a really easy dish to put together, just have to remember to start the night before, and was very tasty. The changes above are either just to suit our tastes or happy accidents/mistakes I made in the preparation. The wild rice I served with it was a great accompaniment

Thanks for the feedback - I love feedback. The mix for the chicken is pretty well a paste (a loose paste) as I remember. The Aleppo was an afterthought on my part to add colour and I totally agree that more is needed.

With the oranges, I suppose its a matter of taste. Personally, I like the bitter rind and pith when its cooked because it offsets the slightly sweet pistachio.

Once again thanks for giving feedback!
 
What kind of orange did you use? I used a naval and the pith was really, really bitter. We ended up pulling the peel off and eating just the fruit part.
 
What kind of orange did you use? I used a naval and the pith was really, really bitter. We ended up pulling the peel off and eating just the fruit part.

Fair enough - I'm not certain what kind of oranges they were. I bought them as ubiquitous 'large oranges' from the online supermarket. I think they were from Spain. Maybe I've more of a taste for the bitter - I love bitter chunky marmalade so it could be a Brit thing. I eat whole slices of cooked lemon too.
 
I can't locate sumac in my local WalMart. Google says that lemon pepper seasoning is a good substitute. Does anyone know how much seasoning to use to replace the amount of sumac in the recipe?

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