Birds and Beets

I got the key items for tonight’s dinner from local merchants –the organic grocer around the corner supplied the beetroot, whilst Rendinas’ Butchery supplied the birds. They had no “poussin”, so I got the only other mini-birds they had, “spatchcocks”. I suspect they’re the same thing, actually. A poussin by any other name…

95. Shredded Beetroot Salad with Yogurt (Low Fat)
96. Roast Poussin with Garlic and Shallots (Feeding Babies and Small Children)

The star of this meal is the beetroot salad – Nigella suggests it to go with any roasted little bird, a recipe for which I found in the Feeding Babies and Small Children chapter. I adapted the recipe to be low-fat friendly by simply leaving out the oil and butter. Nigella includes a poussin recipe in the kids’ chapter, because she says they’re the perfect size for a child to eat by him or herself – this must mean that poussins are smaller than spatchcocks, or her children have large appetites. Either way, we were happy with the quantities!

This is a surprisingly elegant supper, given how simple it is to prepare. When I came home from yoga, I shoved the little spatchcocks in the oven with some unpeeled garlic and shallots. Whilst they were roasting, I did the salad. The salad is simply mint and coriander, chopped in a processor, mixed with peeled and grated beetroot (also done in the processor), and lemon juice. To serve, you place the large mound of beetroot on a plate, make a well in the centre and pour some fat-free yogurt in. Delicious. I wore rubber gloves to deal with the beetroot, so my hands were quite well protected from unsightly red stains. However, it was a different story for the benches, my utensils, the taps, the kitchen drawers…


Roast Spatchcock with garlic and shallots, Beet salad on the side


Shredded Beetroot Salad with Yogurt - what gorgeous, vibrant colours!

A note on quantities – I found that one 500 gram spatchcock per person was just right. The salad, on the other hand, makes an incredibly vast quantity (not necessarily a bad thing, I love its fresh and tangy crunchiness). The recipe says 725 grams of beet serves two people, with leftovers. I used about 800 grams, and the three of us only got halfway through it! Ah, the crazy quantities that exist in Nigella-land...