I haven’t cooked with game hens since sophomore year of college! Like I said earlier, I don’t like turkey and it’ll just be me by myself for Thanksgiving. All of my friends went home and I’m not visiting family this year. I don’t mind! I’ve been looking forward to it all month.

[100% organic]

Ingredients:

• 1 cornish game hen
• 0.5 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
• 2 TBS honey
• 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tsp canola oil

Instructions:

1. Heat small saucepan over medium heat, then add vegetable oil
2. When oil is hot, add garlic and ginger and saute briefly until fragrant, stirring with a wooden spoon
3. Add green onions and stir until softened
4. Add 0.5 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice and reduce heat to low
5. Add honey and stir until incorporated into glaze. Keep glaze warm
6. Preheat oven to 400ºF
7. Pat dry and tie the hen and dry-roast for 15 minutes
8. Baste skin of hen with glaze and bake for 15 more minutes
9. Repeat every 15 minutes until 1 hour total cooking time
10. Internal temperature near the thigh should be 180ºF

*Adpated from Foto Cusine.

Last year, due to job constraints, my husband and I were unable to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. To top that off, most of the people we know in town where either traveling themselves, or had already made plans to have other people over.

I won’t say that we felt shunned per se but we did only have a two person Thanksgiving Dinner. It was quiet and quaint. As well, I pretty much had complete license to do whatever I wanted cooking wise. Needless to say, I took advantage, and whipped up:

• Cornish Game Hen – Rubbed down with butter, lemon pepper, salt, pepper, sage and rosemary, with garlic cloves and lemon wedges stuffed inside the bird

• Garlic Mashed Potatoes – Red potatoes, boiled, mashed up with fat-free sour cream, butter and lots and lots of garlic
• Green Bean Casserole – Nothing you can’t find on the can!
• Hen Drippings Gravy – Basically drained the liquid from the cooked hens, mixed in some cornstarch and whisked till it was the right thickness
• Cherry Pie – Honestly, all I have the recipe for is the crust, the filling came pre-canned
• Stuffing – Walmart brand to the rescue!
• Flax Seed Buns – Literally a general white bread recipe plus about 1 cup of flax seed (this is a great way to add nutritional value and fiber into your white breads!)

All-in-all, I think my husband and I now have a new tradition of cornish game hen for Thanksgiving Dinner. They were much, much more tasty than turkey, easier to prepare and cook and we used the leftovers in many more ways than I would have for turkey meat.

Since a great Thanksgiving feast isn’t complete without pictures…pictures for my audience!

]]> http://tripesoup.com/2008/05/15/just-call-me-teach/ Thu, 15 May 2008 16:10:48 +0000 Jennifer http://tripesoup.com/2008/05/15/just-call-me-teach/

The other night I did a cooking demo for eight people at Jessica Bard’s Kitchen-Class at Warren Cutlery here in Rhinebeck. I’ve done demos onstage in front of big audiences, and to people milling around at a farmers market, but teaching a small group like this was a first. I had lots of fun hamming it up and spouting off and cooking up a storm, all at once. I got there late (poor organization), forgot to start things in time, had trouble with the induction cooktop, all kinds of mini-crises, but I just had a great time and hope I get to do it again.

I made a southern-inspired dinner with Crispy “Smothered” Cornish Game Hens with Mushroom Gravy over Baked Grits (southern polenta!), New-fangled Collard Greens (the fiddleheads I promised were not to be found anywhere), Hoppin’ John Salad, Bourbon Pecan Pie with Julep Whipped Cream, and Strawberry Ice Tea.

On the right is yours truly mercilessly spatchcocking a poor helpless game hen. The photo below is my pie, photographed beautifully by Jessica Bard.

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I got scooped by The New York Times this week. Monday I sent Ulster Publishing a column about kids cooking, which included a round-up of favorite kids’ cookbooks. They’ll probably run it next Thursday–they’ve been needing a long lead time lately. Then on Wednesday I bought a copy of the Times, which I do once every couple of months or so, just to sort of see what’s going on in the food world. And lo and behold, they had a cover story on kids cookbooks, including the general trendiness of kids cooking.

Now to stroke my ego, my husband says the big food folk follow me around and see what I’m writing about so they can do it too. “Look, Saveur just did avocados–they’re following you!”–that sort of thing. But I don’t know how the old NYT can see something I did that didn’t even see print yet! Rolando says, “They’re hacking into your computer somehow, saying ‘Let’s see what Jenny B.’s up to.’” Pretty cute.

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And Ma, if you’re listening, those grits were a huge hit.

Frequently found in grocery store freezer cases, Cornish game hens seem to be more exotic than they are. In reality, they’re just miniature chickens (sure to impress all the women out there who think everything smaller than normal is cute; I’m looking at you Angela).

This was the first time that I had ever had one. I had seen them numerous times in the freezer ghetto of the grocery store but had passed them by as being unfamiliar and possibly too much trouble for the benefit. I only deigned to buy one (well, two really as they come frozen in two packs) when they were on sale. And they promptly went into the freezer for longer than I want to admit.

Why did I choose to rescue them from their frozen entombment? Mainly I wanted to reclaim some freezer space.

My first step after defrosting them is to figure out what to do with them. Unfortunately, despite my collection of cookbooks (which is either minimally sized or overly-large depending on which family member you ask), I was unable to find a recipe that really attracted me (or that I had all the ingredients for). So I decided to improvise. With a little bit of Gourmet and a little bit of Alton Brown as well as just general ideas, i think it turned out pretty well.

For a family of two, there are a number of advantage to the Cornish game hen: namely, one is enough food for two people (with a little left over to spoil our cats with). But, what really surprised me, was that it was good. The breast meat was moist and the thighs were tender. And, I should add, that this was without brining or pre-salting or any other extraordinary effort (or preparation as it’s normally called); from a frozen mass-produced bird.

I think, that in our household at least, Cornish game hens will become frequent visitors. I bet our cats will like that.

Roasted Cornish Game Hen

1 Rock Cornish game hen
3 tbsp, softened
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 tbsp minced shallots
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp butter, softened (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place two cast-iron frying pans into the oven.
2. Spatchcock the game hen (cut out the backbone so the the game hen lays flat).
3. Mix together the butter, thyme, and garlic to create an herb butter. Season it with salt and pepper.
4. Rub the herb butter under the game hen skin on the breast and thighs. Rub the remaining herb butter onto the outside of the game hen. Season the game hen with additional salt and pepper.
5. When the frying pans are hot, remove the frying pans from the oven. Place the game hen skin side up in one of the frying pans. Place the other frying pan on top of the game hen helping to flatten it. Return the frying pans with the game hen into the oven.
6. Cook the game hen until its internal temperature reaches 160ºF about 25 minutes.
7. Remove the frying pans from the oven. Remove the game hen from the frying pans and set aside, covered with aluminum foil.
8. In the bottom frying pan, add the shallots and cook over medium heat about 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock, scrapping up any browned bits. Bring to a boil and reduce until the sauce is thickened.
9. Remove the aluminum foil and cut the game hen in half laterally.
10. Serve each half with the sauce poured over it.

Serves 2.

Wine-pairing suggestion: A rich, juicy, medium-bodied Merlot because the hints of black cherry and raspberry complements this robust dish!

Ingredients:

• 2 small oranges
• 1 lime
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 Cornish game hens (1-1/2 pounds each)

1. With a zester or a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from 1 of the oranges and the lime, and finely chop. Halve all of the fruit and use a citrus reamer or juicer to extract the juice (enough to make 1 cup of combined juices).
2. Combine the zest and juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; stir in the molasses and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup; about 16 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and parsley. Set aside to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove giblets and neck from the hens. Using poultry shears or a sharp knife, cut the hens in half lengthwise. Rinse under cool running water and pat dry, inside and out, using paper towels. Place the hens in a shallow baking pan, skin side up. Sprinkle with the salt.
4. Roast the hens for 15 minutes, the brush with half the glaze. Roast glazed hens for another 15 minutes, then brush with the remaining glaze. Continue roasting until cooked thoroughly; 10 to 20 minutes more. The juices should run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a tip of a knife. If the hens begin to brown too much before they are done, tent with foil.