Bring on Autumn - Roasted Vegetables and Cornish Game Hens Dinner

As soon as I woke up yesterday morning, I knew what I wanted to make for dinner... roasted vegetables.   It brings back memories of growing up in England.   We were very close to the Green Grocer and his wife, and he's stop by often in his little mini van.   We'd pick out vegetables and he'd put them in brown sacks for us.   Everything was incredibly fresh, right out of his garden.   Our meal last night of roasted vegetables and Cornish Games Hens made the house smell great and was really healthy too.

I stopped off at the market and picked out what vegetables I wanted to use; sweet and red onions, carrots, parsnips, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, garlic, caraway seeds and pepper corns.   Then I pre-heated my oven to 350 degrees, prepped the veggies and loaded them up on trays to roast.

I drizzled everything with olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper.   I threw some caraway seeds onto the root vegetable on the large tray, used thyme and minced garlic throughout.  

I rinsed and dried the hens and split each one in half.   Put some olive oil into the bottom of the pan and onto each half bird.   Threw in some sweet onion, thyme, garlic and then coated each half bird with Major Gray's Chutney.  A little salt and pepper to taste and they were ready for the oven.

Everything fit perfectly into my oven... closed the door and it did all the work from that point on.   I roasted the entire meal for about an hour, until the hens were cooked through.

This was our dinner - the Cornish Game Hen was tender, juicy and a little zesty from using the Chutney as a glaze.   All the vegetables were perfectly roasted, full of flavor and I did top them with some minced Italian Parsley too.   Four adults later, everything had been devoured!

Apricot and Jalapeno Glazed Cornish Game Hens

With spring finally here, I knew I wanted to use fruit when roasting the Cornish Game Hens.   I also thought that fire roasted jalapenos and garlic would add more depth to the flavors... so here it is!

Apricot and Jalapeno Glazed Cornish Game Hens

Ingredients:

• 4 Cornish Game Hens, rinsed and patted dry
• 6 jalapenos, fire roasted and steamed, peeled and seeded
• 1 C. apricot nectar
• 1 C. apricot preserves
• 2 heads of garlic, smashed
• 2 T. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:


Rinse and pat dry the Cornish Game Hens, set aside.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.   Add 1 T. olive oil to roasting pan.


I fire roast my own jalapeno's over one of my gas burners of my cook top.  Char them black and place them in a paper sack to steam.   Once cooled, the skin comes right off.  Slice and remove seeds and put them in the apricot nectar for 10 minutes.   Pour the nectar and jalapeno's into a blender and process until pureed.


Rub each Cornish Game Hen with the remaining 1 T olive oil.   Then brush the apricot/jalapeno puree inside and out of each bird.   Add 2 - 3 T of puree to pan and set aside remainder.   Stuff each bird cavity with 3 -4 smashed cloves of garlic.    Brush each bird with apricot preserves, salt and pepper to taste.   Add remaining smashed cloves of garlic to pan.


Roast, uncovered, for an hour and baste again with both apricot/jalapeno puree followed by apricot preserves.   The birds should have a yummy caramel color.   Remove from the oven and transfer the birds to a serving plate to rest.   For the sauce, remove garlic from pan, add remaining apricot/jalapeno puree and simmer until reduced and thick.


To plate - I started with a bed of fresh baby spinach, topped with a whole Cornish Game Hen and a side of mixed grain rice.   Add the sauce and you have an incredibly tasty meal!