Cornish Hens
With the holiday season just behind us, I hope everyone enjoyed their time with their loved ones, and Santa brought you everything your heart desires (He’s still, a little lost and owes me a couple of gifts 😂). Christmas at my house is pretty small, it’s just my parents, and my siblings. I think we are all getting too old for our Christmas traditions, but neither the less I still love spending time with my Family.
This Christmas I had the opportunity of getting to plan our whole dinner! This was a first for me which I was really excited about. It all started with a simple text of me sending my mom a picture of amazing Cornish Hens I saw on Pinterest and was on board. I honestly think my mom was still worn out by our Thanksgiving Feast.
I know I’m not the only person who is wonder what exactly is a Cornish hen? Is it a baby chicken, turkey, a hen? Well according to Wikipedia a Cornish game hen, also sometimes called a Cornish hen, poussin, Rock Cornish hen, or simply Rock Cornish, is a hybrid chicken sold whole. Despite the name, it is not a game bird. Rather, it is a broiler chicken, the most common strain of commercially raised meat chickens. Though the bird is called a “hen”, it can be either male or female.
Cornish Hens stuffed with baby potatoes.
Now that we all know what exactly this is beside delicious. I want to share with you how I made them. This is a perfect dish for you to make for you and bae for Valentines Day or even a dish for Galentines Day whichever you plan to celebrate this year. At first, I was intimidated as I started to look up the different ways to cook this Cornish Hen. I finally landed on using a buttermilk brine and then roasting them in the oven with baby potatoes. A brine is a simple marinade that uses milk or water. I choose to use buttermilk so I could capture all that flavor. I also stuffed each of the Cornish Hens with a delicious apple sausage stuffing. This is such a simple recipe to make the stuffing, just make sure you use a nice quality loaf. I peeled the skin of the apples because that’s my preference (I’m allergic to the skin of the apples, but once it’s removed it doesn’t bother me at all).
Cornish Hen, Mac & Cheese, Fried Rice & baby potatoes
Make sure you pair your delicious meal with a veggie I forgot to make some so don’t judge my carb loaded plate. I would recommend asparagus, broccoli or a sautéed spinach. Check out the recipe below and let me know how this turns out for you.
Spotted with the itis after this Christmas meal 🙂
This week cooking up that work playlist below. Something I have been listening to all week is Tory Lanez mixtape: Chixtape I LOVE it. Start to finish I love every single song–how could you not he remade the proud family theme song. Check it out below.
Cooking up That Work Vol.2
Ingredients
For the Brine
- 1/4 cup kosher Salt
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp granulated onion
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp cayenne
- 3 tbsp Italian seasonings
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 4-5 Small Cornish hens
For the Stuffing
- 8 large slices of good quality bread
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 granny-smith apple peeled, cored, and chopped
- 3 ounces sausge
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp fresh sage chopped
- 1/2 tsp italian seasonings
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary chopped fine
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp granulated onion
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp scallions
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- kitchen twine
Instructions
The Brine:
-
Rinse the Cornish hens with cool water, and remove the insides and disregard.
Combine all the ingredients for the brine in one large bowl.
Place 2-3 hens in gallon zip lock bags and pour brine mixture inside. Make sure the hens are covered with the brine and seal. Let marinate for 6 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Rinse the brine off the cornish hens and pat dry with paper towels.
For the stuffing:
-
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Slice and cube bread into small 1-inch cubes. Place on cooking sheet and let cook for 15-20 minutes until it is dried out. Set it aside
Chop celery, onion, and apples.
Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Place olive oil in the pan and brown sausage for about 5 minutes (make sure to remove sausage from casing).
Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, and then add the rest of your seasonings red pepper flakes and Italian seasonings, celery, apple, sage, rosemary, thyme, nutmeg, granulated garlic, and onion. Taste and adjust to your liking by adding any of the previous spices.
Add cooled dried out bread and let absorb the fat/juices that are left in the pan.
Remove from heat and slowly add the chicken broth and stop until you reached your desired constancy.
Transfer stuffing to another bowl and let it cool for 20 minutes. Once cooled add beaten egg, parsley, and scallions.
Cornish Hens:
-
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Using about ½ cup to 1 cup of the stuffing mixture stuff each hen, and using the kitchen twine tie it closed. Add olive oil to the tops of each hen and season with salt and pepper.
Place hens in preheated oven and roast for about 1 hour until the skin is browned and the internal temperature reads 170 degrees. Let the hens rest for about 10 minutes and enjoy!
Until next time.
