Cornish game hens with orange and honey

8 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1¼ cup Orange juice
1¼ cup Dry red wine
½ cup Honey
2½ tablespoon Soy sauce
¼ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
4 Cornish game hens; (1 1/2 pound each), giblets removed
3 smalls Onions
12 Cloves garlic; crushed
1 bunch Watercress

Directions

Preheat oven to 400øF. Whisk first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Pour 2 cups sauce into medium saucepan. Reserve remaining 1 cup sauce.

Rinse hens inside and out. Pat hens dry with paper towels. Cut and scrape off any visible fat from hens. Sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Place 3 onion quarters and 3 garlic cloves in cavity of each hen.

Arrange hens on rack on large rimmed baking sheet.

Roast hens 10 minutes. Baste with reserved 1 cup sauce. Continue roasting until hens are golden and juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced, basting often with pan juices and reserved 1 cup sauce, about 45 minutes longer.

Transfer hens to cutting board; tent with foil to keep warm. Transfer pan juices to 4-cup glass measuring cup. Spoon fat off top of pan juices. Pour pan juices into 2 cups sauce in saucepan. Boil until sauce is reduced to 1½ cups, about 12 minutes.

Discard onions and garlic from hen cavities. Using poultry shears, cut hens in half lengthwise. Remove backbones. Spoon some sauce onto plates. Place hens atop sauce. Garnish with watercress. Serve with remaining sauce.

NOTES: Remove the skin from the game hens before roasting them to make this delicious main course lower in fat. Uncork a bottle of Chardonnay, and offer steamed yellow and green zucchini alongside.

Per Serving (with skin) Calories 364; total fat 16 g; saturated fat 4 g; cholesterol 100 mg

Per Serving (without skin) Calories 308; total fat 9 g; saturated fat 2 g; cholesterol 101 mg

Printed in Bon Appetit April 1998 Typed and Busted by Carriej999@... 4/98 Recipe by: Sally Anne Smith and Ron Lento Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by Carriej999 <Carriej999@...> on Apr 3, 1998

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