Special Sunday: Rosemary Orange Game Hens

  Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Who doesn’t love the little chicks we call game hens? These cuties are fun to work with and look great on a plate. I prepare mine just like I do my turkey for Thanksgiving, except I add sage and thyme to the rosemary for the holiday bird.

Despite my opening line, game hens are not little chickens. I wouldn’t want you to leave here thinking that we kill baby chickens for this meal. They are also not game birds. Nope. The 2½ pound game hens are a hybrid of Rock Cornish and White Plymouth Rock hens. They go by many names: Cornish hen, poussin, Rock Cornish hen, or Rock Cornish.

Because the birds have more meat than is recommended for a serving size, we cut them in half. But, of course, you don’t need to and that’s why this recipe serves 4-8 people.

Rosemary Orange Game Hens (serves 4-8)

4 Rock Cornish game hens, thawed and rinsed out

1 orange, cut into 8 segments

4 tablespoons fresh orange juice

large handful of fresh rosemary, divided

1 stick of butter, melted

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Divide the rosemary into four equal piles. From each pile set aside a few leaves.

Stuff each bird with one orange segment, the larger pile of rosemary and then the last orange segment. Coat each one with butter, covering the top and bottom of each. Drizzle one tablespoon orange juice over each bird. Sprinkle remaining rosemary of top of each bird.

Bake for an hour to hour and a half or until meat registers 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. Let hens rest for 10 minutes.

Beginning on top, cut through each bird’s breast all the way through the backbone. Remove oranges and rosemary and discard. Serve ½ a hen (or whole) to each person, drizzling each with pan juices.

DH’s Rating: 5 tongues Up

“Tasty! I feel so virtuous eating this. It’s good for us, right?” Yep, roasted is better than fried, healthwise. And the rosemary and orange add a bit of brightness to the meal.