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Roasted Game Hens
Dec. 4th, 2005 07:45 pmI stuffed the cavities of four game hens with chunks of sweet onion, then arranged them in a pan, tucking the wing tips under and tying the drumsticks together with twine. I poured a pint of apple cider into a sauce pan and brought it to a boil, letting it cook down to about 1 cup, lovely and syrupy. I added four tablespoons of butter to the apple cider syrup, let it melt and let the concoction cool a little, then basted the birds with some of it. Then I sprinkled the birds with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them in a 400F oven. After 15 minutes I reduced the temperature to 350F and roasted them for an hour, basting with the apple cider syrup and butter concoction every 15 minutes.
In the meantime, I browned a chub of Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage in a pan, breaking it up and letting it cook thoroughly. When it was cooked and browned, I put it in a bowl and in the same pan I melted a few tablespoons of butter and added one chopped yellow onion and two chopped ribs of celery, sautéeing until the onion became translucent and the celery was bright green. That went into the bowl, along with two peeled, cored and chopped Granny Smith apples, a bunch of Bell's Seasoning (I like *lots*), a bag of Colombo plain stuffing croutons and enough chicken broth to moisten the croutons so that the dressing would hold together.
This was turned out into a casserole. When the game hens were done I put them on a platter and covered them with foil, to rest while the dressing went into the oven for 40 minutes and I chopped and steamed some fresh broccoli.
I defatted the pan drippings then deglazed the roasting pan with some apple juice and chicken broth. I thickened the resulting sauce with a slurry of chicken broth and cornstarch, then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.
A tasty Sunday dinner for a cool Autumn evening.
In the meantime, I browned a chub of Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage in a pan, breaking it up and letting it cook thoroughly. When it was cooked and browned, I put it in a bowl and in the same pan I melted a few tablespoons of butter and added one chopped yellow onion and two chopped ribs of celery, sautéeing until the onion became translucent and the celery was bright green. That went into the bowl, along with two peeled, cored and chopped Granny Smith apples, a bunch of Bell's Seasoning (I like *lots*), a bag of Colombo plain stuffing croutons and enough chicken broth to moisten the croutons so that the dressing would hold together.
This was turned out into a casserole. When the game hens were done I put them on a platter and covered them with foil, to rest while the dressing went into the oven for 40 minutes and I chopped and steamed some fresh broccoli.
I defatted the pan drippings then deglazed the roasting pan with some apple juice and chicken broth. I thickened the resulting sauce with a slurry of chicken broth and cornstarch, then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.
A tasty Sunday dinner for a cool Autumn evening.
