Festive recipes for Cornish Game Hens?

December 22, 2008 10:10 AM

Festive recipes for Cornish Game Hens?

We've decided to have Cornish Game Hens for Christmas dinner. I've made them before in a couple of ways but I want something extra special for Christmas. I'm currently thinking risotto and asparagus alongside, plus maybe shrimp or something as a starter and possibly a chocolate souffle for dessert. Difficulty is not an issue - I like to cook and do a lot of it - but finding ingredients outside the American norm, particularly Asian, might be. Still, please, give me what you've got! The sides can change. The more delicious, elegant and memorable, the better. I googled but got overwhelmed by the wealth of possibilities and the suggestion of flambe. Festive, yeah, but I think I want to stop just short of flambeing.

posted by mygothlaundry to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

I just recently tried this recipe for Cornish Game Hens in a crockpot. It's not super fancy, but was absolutely delish. It would free up your oven for other dishes, but depending on how many you are feeding, you might need an extra crock. I have a 6 qt, and two hens fit nicely in it.

I added chopped celery, onion and half a lemon to the cavity before cooking and used turkey bacon.

Another option is to brine the hens, and while roasting in the oven baste with a combination of corn syrup and melted butter (real stuff, unsalted). The skin browns beautifully and hens are super moist and flavorful.
posted by socrateaser at 10:51 AM on December 22, 2008

I like a simple roasted game hen served with a side of wild rice. Some butter, sage, salt and pepper on the birds prior to roasting is all you need. Some people like fancy fruit based sauces, like a cherry or cranberry glaze or sauce, but then cut down on the sage and perhaps just go with a small amount of rosemary or even fine herbs if the sauce is delicate. Add some champagne to the sauce if you want to be fancy. You can stuff them with traditional stuffing or even better a wild rice stuffing, although a wild rice stuffing on the side is even better in my book. Here is a good one:

wild rice (cooked)
chestnuts (from a jar is easiest, otherwise roasted and peeled)
onion
apple
celery
sausage (optional)
chicken broth
sage or thyme or both to taste
salt and pepper

I don't really measure things, sorry. For each person I would add about 1 and 1/2 servings of rice, 1/4 to 1/2 of an apple depending upon their size, two or three chestnuts (chopped into large pieces) or more if you really like chestnuts like I do, a tablespoon or so of chopped onion, a couple of inches of celery and sausage to taste, probably about three inches of most sausages. Cook the apples and sausage, add the remaining ingredients and a few tablespoons of chicken broth per serving and bake in a medium hot oven until it is hot and no longer liquidy. Substitute some white wine for some of the chicken broth or add a tablespoon or so of sherry for some different flavor. If it remains too liquidy after baking just fold in some bread crumbs and bake for a little longer.
posted by caddis at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2008

Response by poster: For posterity I stuffed them with chopped apricots & fresh rosemary, sprinkled them with more rosemary, salt and pepper, spritzed them with lemon juice and roasted them with butter. Kept basting them with a mixture of white wine, red currant jelly and more butter. They were awesome but next time I think I'll try caddis' recipe.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:47 PM on December 27, 2008