Best Cornish Hen With Tart Cherry Sauce Recipes

CORNISH GAME HENS WITH PORT CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Rinse hens thoroughly and cut in half along the breastbone. Place halves, skin side up, in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Season with salt, pepper and dried thyme.
• Place in oven and roast for approximately 40 minutes to an hour, until skin is nicely browned. For extra color, brush with melted better during last 15 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, combine port, chicken broth, cornstarch mixture, raspberry preserves, and dried cherries.
• When hens are done cooking, remove from oven and let them rest on counter. Add pan drippings to the port mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer until desired consistency is reached. Add more preserves if the sauce is too tart. (The sauce can actually be made/reduced ahead of time - just reheat when pan drippings are added). Add more water or chicken broth if the sauce is too thick. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
• Serve with sauce spooned over hens.

CHERRY-BALSAMIC CORNISH HEN WITH RICE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Remove and discard neck and giblets from game hen. With kitchen scissors, cut game hen in half.
• In ungreased 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish, combine rice with seasoning from package, cherries, almonds and water; mix well. Top with game hen halves, skin side up; sprinkle with garlic-pepper blend and salt.
• In small bowl, combine preserves and vinegar; mix well. Brush about half of mixture over game hen halves. Cover with foil.
• Bake covered at 375°F. for 30 minutes.
• Uncover baking dish; brush game hen halves with remaining preserves mixture. Bake uncovered an additional 25 to 30 minutes or until game hen is fork-tender and juices run clear, and rice is tender.

SHEET PAN THANKSGIVING CORNISH HEN DINNER

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Spray a large sheet pan with cooking spray.
• Arrange potatoes, carrots, and onion on the sheet pan in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning on top.
• Mix butter and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning together until well blended.
• Rinse hens well, inside and out, under cool running water. Remove bag from inside the cavity. Pat the hens dry with paper towels. Season the cavity with salt and pepper. Make a pocket between the skin and the meat with your fingers, being careful not to rip the skin.
• Divide butter mixture between the hens and place it between the breast meat and skin. Place hens on top of the potato and onion mixture. Season the outsides with salt, pepper, and remaining Italian seasoning. Place lemon inside the cavity of the hen. Pour chicken broth into the bottom of the sheet pan.
• Roast in the preheated oven until hens are nicely browned, 35 to 45 minutes. Tent the hens with foil during the last few minutes of cooking to prevent overbrowning, if needed. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.
• Meanwhile, drain about 1/2 cup of the pan drippings from beneath the vegetables into a small saucepan to start the gravy. Bring to a boil. Mix flour and cold water together and add to the pan drippings, whisking until desired consistency is reached. Serve gravy alongside Cornish hens.

CORNISH HEN WITH CHERRY-HAZELNUT WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Toast the hazelnuts in a small, dry skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until they are lightly browned and begin to smell toasty, 4 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully; nuts can burn quickly. Transfer to the folds of a clean dish towel to remove the skins while the nuts are still warm, then discard the skins and let the nuts cool. Coarsely chop the nuts.
• Using poultry shears or a very sharp knife, cut along each side of the hen's backbone and remove it. Turn the hen over on your cutting board, splay it out butterfly-style, and press on the breastbone to break it. Sprinkle it with salt and allspice then rub the yogurt all over it.
• Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Place the hen, meat side down, in the skillet and weight it down with a smaller skillet with a large can of tomatoes or other heavy object on top. (Or, do as I do, and use a heavy cast-iron bacon press, made for just this kind of thing.)
• Let the hen cook until the yogurt has formed a dark brown crust on the meat side, 5 to 10 minutes. Lift off the weight assembly, and use tongs to turn the hen over onto the bone side. Return the weights and cook until an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh and the breast reads at least 165°F, another 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil while you make the sauce.
• Pour the wine syrup into the skillet and use a spatula to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the dried cherries and hazelnuts, stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper to taste. (If you're using wine instead of the syrup, pour it in, scrape up the browned bits from the pan, add the dried cherries and hazelnuts, then let the wine bubble and reduce by about half. Add the sugar to taste and continue reducing the sauce until it is thick and sticky, then season with salt and pepper to taste.)
• Remove the sauce from the heat, spoon the sauce over the hen, and eat.