Cornish Hens Fit For a King!
I love all my Clevelanders, but I made this meal the night of “The Decision” and I felt it was super Royal. Therefore it became dedicated to him. 🙂
In my kitchen due to food allergies and an aversion to pork, I have to really get creative to make meals that are good and not repetitive. No worries though, I have plenty of recipes that include items that I no longer eat, but can assure you are fantastic.
This is one of my “oh you fancy, huh?” meals because it is so easy, yet when it’s done everyone is like WHOA! I first made Cornish Hens for Thanksgiving once when I was living in ATL and everyone gathered up to eat together because our families were out of reach. I was too scared to go big and do a Turkey so I decided on something smaller and it was pretty cool because everyone got their own. Then these bad boys just took off. People wanted them all the time. So here ya go.
You can also do a whole chicken this same way and just cook on top of veggies for a one-dish meal that will serve many, taste great, and require little clean-up!
Cornish Hens
Prep time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr.
What you’ll need:
- 2 Cornish Hens (or more depending on your group)
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbs butter (melted)
- 1 tbs Honey
- Salt & Pepper
- Garlic Salt
- Seasoned Salt
Preparation:
Start with your hens in your cooking dish. I use #AllPyrexEverythang. Buy the frozen kind with the neck and gizzards removed. It’s not fun having to empty the cavity yourself. Plus it’s a bit gross and sad.
Next using a paper towel, dry off the hens by blotting.
Sprinkle some of the salt & pepper into the cavity of the hen. Next, take your lemon and cut in half and then into quarters. If you were doing a whole Chicken, cutting in half would be enough since the cavity is much larger. Stuff a quarter of the lemon into the cavity.
Take your small bulb of garlic and just chop in half leaving on the thin papery layer, it doesn’t matter. Stuff that into the cavity as well. It will look like this:
Now, liberally season the breast-side and back-side of the hen with your remaining seasonings. I mean really get in there with it.
Make sure the hens are place breast-side up. Combine the melted butter and honey in a bowl. Using a basting brush, brush about 1/3 of the mixture onto the hen. Use less butter if you’re counting calories. Really make sure you baste the breast and the thighs/legs well.
Now place in your preheated oven and bake. About 25 mins in, brush a little more of the honey/butter mixture on top of the hen. Do this again at about 15 mins cook time left. This is what you’ll have! If the hens start to brown too quickly or burn at the tips, place foil on top of the dish until it’s done, but remove 5 minutes before you take the hen out. Also, if you have twine laying around you should tie the legs together. If not, no problem, just watch for burning. You don’t want the legs to dry out.
They are finished! Don’t they look great!?
I made mashed potatoes and Parmesan asparagus to go with the hens. It looked too fly! Made a bed with the potatoes and sat the hens on top. The juices (oh they will be so juicy!) ran down onto the potatoes and really flavored them up!
Try it out!
Sugar Kisses!
JG*
JG* Runs The Kitchen 