Poussins with tarragon, wild mushroom sauce, mash and spring greens (from 8th March)

At the market in my lunchbreak, considering what to have for dinner, I found a row of poussins for £2 each. Rather a bargain, I thought. We had spuds and some lovely pyramidal spring greens at home, and in the Bengali supermarket on Brick Lane, of all places, I found a bunch of tarragon. I absolutely love tarragon chicken, and haven't had it for ages. In fact, I realised I hadn't eaten chicken at all for a long time, somehow it being displaced by cravings for wintry red meat, and then the craving for fish thaat comes when too much red meat has been consumed.

The poussins, with a generous amount of tarragon pushed under the skin, roasted up a treat in 40 minutes, and they were perfectly succulent, the legs pulling away from the body with ease. While the birds were cooking, I soaked a few pieces of dried porcini that I always seem to have hanging around, and while they rested, I stirred them and their liquid into the pan, scraping up all the yummy bits, making a rather classy sauce which made me feel very smart, given that my propensity to do anything other than spash a glass of wine into a sticky pan is normally nil. With a pile of mash (a little garlicky from a couple of cloves boiled with the spuds) and crunchy, bright greens, it was a super Thursday night supper, and as super-easy as it gets.