Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Post-Thanksgiving Dinner

So as much as I was completely sick of turkey after last weekend, I ended the weekend with a dinner of roasted cornish hen. Now, I learned last year that making cornish hens is a bit of a process, but they always turn out so good that I am always tempted to make them. This week's was another success - I found this recipe on Food and Wine but I tweaked it a little...

Stuffed Cornish Hens
Ingredients:
1/4 cup slivered, toasted almonds
1/2 cup canned low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup rice
1/2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Cornish hens (about 1.25-1.5 pounds each)

--> I bought my slivered almonds already toasted, so I didn't need to toast them myself. If yours aren't toasted, heat the oven to 350 F. Toast the nuts in the oven until golden brown, 5-10 minutes. Remove them and set aside. Raise the heat to 425 F (I have a Convection Roast feature on my oven, so I only raised the temp to 400 and the timing still worked).
--> In a small saucepan, cook the rice according to package directions using the broth and the apricots. When done, add the almonds, 1/4 tbsp butter, 1 1/2 tsp honey, cinnamon and dash salt & pepper.
--> Clean up the hens and then fill the cavities of the hens with the rice mixture. If you want, twist the wings of the hens behind their backs and tie the legs together (I didn't do this because I didn't have any string to tie them with, but it is what the recipe calls for). Put the hens, breast-side up, in a roasting pan. Sprinkle them with salt & pepper and dot with the remaining butter.
--> Roast the hens for 25 minutes. Then baste them with any pan juices (if none, no biggie) an drizzle another 1 tsp honey over the hens. Continue roasting until just done, probably another 10-15 minutes longer. That's it - serve and enjoy.

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