Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Measure out 1/3 cup orange juice
and 1/3 cup real maple syrup
Pour them into a small saucepan, and add 2 Tablespoons white cooking wine.
To that, add 1 tsp dry rosemary leaves.
Bring this to a gentle simmer, and let it cook for about 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, take the poor, defenseless hens, and cut them in half. This is one of the few things I use kitchen shears for, but a warning: BE CAREFUL.
They are very sharp and the kitchen shears know no difference between YOUR flesh and hen flesh. I know....I speak from trip-to-the-emergency-room experience, many many moons ago. It was also the very first time my daughter fainted at the sight of blood...but that is a totally separate and inappropriate story. (Thankfully I wasn't cooking...I was cutting pipecleaners for a craft project. Just thought I would clarify.)
The Moral of the Story: BE CAREFUL!!!!!
Cut them all in half, along the breastbone and the spine, creating two pieces from each.
Now, zest an orange.
Dry the hens with a paper towel.
Take a hen half, and gently pull the skin up from the breast, creating a pocket.
Then take 1/6 of the zest and spread it in the pocket, all over the meat.
Take the shears now, and snip off the tip of the wing. There is no meat on it, and all it will do is burn. Place the half in the baking dish, skin up. Repeat with all.
By now, the glaze is bubbly and cheerful. Turn off the heat.
Give the tops of the hens a light salt & peppering.
Next, brush them with 1/3 of the glaze.
Now they are ready for the oven.
About 20 minutes into the baking, brush on another 1/3 of the glaze, and again another 20 minutes later.
Let the hens bake for a total of 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees, or the juices run clear.
Enjoy!
Printable Version: Maple-Orange Glazed Cornish Hens
Alternate Printing Methods---> HERE
1 comment:
I am absolutely going to try this. YUM!
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