The National Chervil Board Recipe

Grilled Poussin Marinated in Shallots, Chervil and Tuffle Oil

Ingredients

• 4 poussin - try D'Artagnan
  
• 8 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
  
• 1 - 2 tbsp truffle oil - white or black
  
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (take this quantity with a grain of salt, as long as you have enough marinade to wet everything)
  
• 1 cup chervil coarsely chopped
  
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Make up a marinade with the shallots, 1 tbsp of truffle oil, red wine vinegar, the chervil, a fat pinch of pepper and a fat pinch of salt. Prepare the poussin for cooking, remove necks, giblets and the like. (If they have bones or you are trying this with chicken, you might want to cut them in half for easier grilling). Slosh around on both sides and let sit refrigerated for at least an hour.
   
2. Set up your grill. I usually cover only half the bottom with hot coals, so I have a real hot side and a cooler side for cooking the birds.
   
3. Put the birds on the grill over the hot part of the coals. Let cook for about 5 to 10 minutes a side, shuffling them around so they don't char to a crisp, but do get nice and browned. I use tongs and a spatula for this, and only have to move the birds to the cooler part of the grill for a few minutes. You may have a hotter fire or fattier birds and have to make adjustments. It is impossible to predict other people's grilling times, so you'll just have to poke at the birds to see if they are ready.
   
4. While the birds are cooking, dump the marinade in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat and let it simmer.
   
5. Cook until the birds are white through. Rare poussin is no better than rare chicken.
6. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve the birds with the cooked marinade.

Grilled Polenta

• 1 cup yellow corn meal (or white if you prefer)

Instructions

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Dump in the corn meal and turn off the heat. Stir briskly while the stuff thickens for a minute or two. Try to smoosh out all of the lumps. Remove from the heat if the bubbling gets too wild.
3. Set up a pyrex baking dish or cake pan as a mold and line it with aluminum foil. Spoon in the mush and spread it out so it makes a "cake" 1/2 inch to an inch thick. You can neaten up the sides and top with a spatula or butter knife if you wish.
4. Cut the polenta into slabs so you can remove them with a spatula. I usually get four 4" x 4" slabs from 1 cup of corn meal.
   
5. While the fire is still hot and the poussin have just been put on the grill, put the slabs (or as many as will fit comfortably) on the fire and let them char. Depending on the fire temperature, they will get a bit crusty and nice looking grill marks in about 2 minutes for each side. A spatula is perfect for flipping them and removing them when they are ready.