Poussins with Dirty Rice

Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
For the rice
4 tablespoons cooking oil
¼ cup plain flour
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 sweet green pepper, seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
7oz. ground pork
8 oz chicken livers, trimmed and sliced
salt, freshly ground black pepper and Tabasco sauce
1¼ cups chicken stock
4 scallions, chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
generous 1 cup American unconverted long-grain white rice, cooked
For the birds
4 poussins
2 bay leaves, halved
2 tbsp butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
In a small heavy saucepan, make a roux with 2 tbsp of the oil and flour. When it is a chestnut -brown color, remove the pan from the heat and place it immediately on a cold surface.
Heat the remaining 2 tbsp oil with the butter in a frying pan and stir-fry the onion, celery and sweet pepper for about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and pork and stir fry  for 5 minutes, breaking up the pork and stirring to cook it all over.
Add the chicken livers and fry for 2-3 minutes until they have changed color all over. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of Tabasco sauce.  
Stir the roux into the stir-fried mixture, When t begins to bubble, cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally Then uncover and cook for over 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Preheat the oven to 400�ºF . Mix the scallions and parsley into the meat mixture and stir it all into cooked rice.
Put ½ bay leaf and 1 tbsp rice into each poussin. Rub the outside with the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Put the birds on a rack in a roasting pan, squeeze the juice from the lemon over them and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes. basting twice with the pan juices.
Put the remaining rice into a shallow ovenproof dish, cover it and place on a low shelf in the oven for the last 15-20 minutes of the birds cooking time.
Serve the birds on a bed of dirty rice with the roasting pan juices (drained of fat) poured over.
Cook tip:  You can substitutes quails for the poussins, in which case offer 2 per person and stuff each little bird with tsp of the dirty rice before roasting about 20 minutes.
Source: (The Around The World Cookbook)