With the recent trend of all things mini, it's surprising you aren't seeing these little guys popping up everywhere! I have to admit, when I picked up a couple of Cornish game hens for dinner, my initial attraction was the novelty of a tiny chicken. If that doesn't do it for you, buy them for their easy preparation and beautiful presentation!
There's often some confusion about what exactly Cornish games hens are (despite the name, the birds can be male or female). The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a Cornish game hen as "a young immature chicken ... weighing not more than 2 pounds ready-to- cook weight, which was ... (bred) from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken." I define them as delicious, easy and fun!
Prepare them as you would when roasting a chicken. Rinse and pat dry. Season inside and out with salt and ground pepper. I chose to surround and stuff the chicken with onion wedges, lemon wedges, garlic cloves, rosemary, and thyme. I then oiled the outside of the chicken and seasoned with a combination of poultry seasoning and lemon pepper. Ideally, elevate the birds so their juices drain, but I used what was readily available.
If serving for company, you could make a beautiful platter adorned with a number of these hens. I split each in half and found that was the perfect serving size. How easy!
This Côtes du Rhône matched well with the succulent cornish hens,
I love the holiday season!
As promised, I will be trying the pumpkin pancakes. Because of this year's shortage, it took me a few trips to find the puree! It's a bit too much for me for breakfast so after an early, light dinner tonight, I'll enjoy these while watching The Santa Clause! Anyone want to come over?
I'll take an order of pumpkin pancakes on Saturday morning. Thanks, sis!!
ReplyDelete-Ryan