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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Christmas Recipe 3 - Cornish Hen with Fresh Herbs and roasted potatoes

And now onto the third and final recipe for the Christmas spread I prepared -Cornish Hen with fresh herbs and roasted potatoes.You will find a little backdrop on cornish hen Here.

Before I decided on a menu for Xmas I thought about Cornish Hen with great trepidation because I was scared of cooking it.Why,you ask ..because I have never cooked a stuffed or roasted whole bird..chicken or turkey.Picking up a rotisserie chicken at Safeways or Fred Meyers is as far as I have gone(giggling just thinking about it).Besides,Iam from the land of curry :-) A roasted bird with just a little bit of seasoning could be a little bland for my taste if not marinated with the right spices(kidding)

However,my sister cooked a delicious turkey this past thanksgiving (pics of which I shall post sometime)and that gave me hope.She said I could do it too ..Yeah ,I thought let me not do a 15 pound turkey or 5 pound chicken but a 1 pound cornish hen I can do.

So,I bought a twin pack of Tyson premium rock cornish game hen and after much cleaning ,seasoning and roasting I was able to turn out a fairly tasty and nice looking bird :).Try it , its fun I guarantee you.


A frozen tyson cornish hen

You need :
1 cornish Hen (without giblets)
6 small red potatoes
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 fresh sage leaves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage, plus extra sprigs for stuffing cavity and garnishing plates
3 lemon slices
3 slices Onion(red/white/yellow)
Kitchen string (optional)

This is how you make it:
Since this bird was in the freezer for a while,I set it outside to thaw a day in advance.(yes it takes a lot of time to thaw)

Preheat oven to 450°F.Cut potatoes into small,bite-size pieces;toss with salt and pepper,garlic, and sage and place in a large, shallow roasting pan.Set in the oven.

Rinse the hen inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.Fold back wings.Rub with butter and sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper.Sprinkle with finely chopped herbs,and place a few more herb sprigs into each hen’s cavity.Also stuff the onion rings and the lemon slices into the bird.You can tie the hen's legs together with kitchen string to hold shape,if you want.(I did not do so.)

Remove potatoes from oven and place the hen on top.Return to pan and roast for 50-55 minutes, or until the hen's juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork and a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 180°F.

Remove the cooked hen from the pan and cover with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving.(why ?? if you slice right away ,the juices will drip and the bird will be bland.But if you let it sit then the juices are reabsorbed,bird will be taste better).

Garnish with fresh herb sprigs .To serve, place some potatoes and a piece of the hen you desire alongside mushroom-shrimp pulao and bean salad.

18 comments:

Bong Mom said...

Hi Meenal
The pic doesn't show up but I guess it's same as the prev post which looked great

Cornish hen are really tasty like "desi murgi". I use them a lot, never roasted a whole one though. But even for chicken curry I use Cornish, it tastes much better. And instead of getting them from the frozen section try them non-frozen
Shall try roasting like you did

Mr. J said...

Reminds me of one of my initial days of grilling and roasting. All it took was to marinate the bird and throw it in the oven.

Meenal Mehta said...

Sandeepa,

yes its same as the previous one..dont know whats wrong with it .I have never seen or tried to find cornish hen in the non frozen section.sounds like a great idea .I will give it a shot:) thanks !!

John ,

do you grill and roast stuff now?

Mr. J said...

Hhmmm.. yep, aakhir pet ka sawal hain.

sra said...

looks delicious!

Michele said...

OH! YOu're posting again! It's been awhile and suddenly you have LOTS of posts! As always, it all sounds so delicious!
Happy 2007 to you!

Meenal Mehta said...

alright john , guess thats how it is


SRA
thanks:-)

Michele
I posted a comment on your blog:) happy to hear from you

Anonymous said...

I made it for new year's eve alongwith green peas pulao....

Ishita shared ur link yesterday, loved reading ur page and even more glad to see admirer of pasta with catfish...:)

Meenal Mehta said...

thanks rajbir,

iam confused ..you made cornish hen for new yrs? thats great , how did it turn out .

yes i love fish and pasta with fish is a mighty good combo

Anonymous said...

nice one from you,Meenal...
And gud to see u blogging from your other blog too...

cheers

Anonymous said...

iam confused *** why?

well it turned out good, the folks liked it and everyone who ate that is still breathing and alive.....lolz

Bong Mom said...

like your profile pic :)

Meenal Mehta said...

gangadhar,

thanks :)yes i shall try to blog more often.

rajbir,
yeah everyone is question is alive


sandeepa,
thanks:)

Bong Mom said...

hey why don't you post your sarson-ka -saag ? We had only got mustard greens once, but didn't know the right way to make it

Anonymous said...

looks delicious but there seems some problem with picture

Anonymous said...

tnx for modifying the link..
and how's ya?

Anonymous said...

pl. modify my link http://www.readers-cafe.net

Thanks

TNL said...

Hey Meenal, Just a Hi since I was here...no recent posts from you in a while.Hope all's well.

Regards,Trupti

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