Wild rice is a completely different crop from regular rice. It is chewier and has a more nut-like flavor. The people who grow it refer to it as "the caviar of grains."
This is a good and quick method for roasting Cornish hens but it can smoke up your kitchen. If you don't have a good fan, preheat your oven to 500oF and then reduce it to 375oF when you put the hens in - and then roast them for 45 to 50 minutes instead of the half hour mentioned in this recipe.
4 fresh Cornish game hens
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced, fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bunch fresh parsley
4 small bay leaves
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups hot, cooked wild rice
1 lemon cut in wedges as garnish
Bacon and Wild Mushroom Gravy (recipe follows)
Place rack in lower half of oven; preheat to 5000F. If you have a ventilator fan on stove, turn it on. Reserving other giblets for gravy, discard necks and livers. Season hen cavities with salt, pepper and thyme. Trim stem ends from parsley and add 1 tablespoon to each cavity, along with a bay leaf. Tie legs together, fold back wings and place hens breast side up in a roasting pan.
Roast hens for about 30 minutes, basting once with butter, until skin is brown and crisp and juices run clear with no hint of pink when thigh is pierced. Remove hens from pan and skim off all but 3 tablespoons drippings to be used in gravy. Serve on a bed of wild rice; garnish with parsley and lemon wedges and pass gravy separately.
Bacon and Wild Mushroom Gravy
1 ounce dried wild mushrooms (cepes, morels or porcini)
1 cup boiling water
1/4 pound bacon, diced
Giblets reserved from hens, chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup flour
2-1/2 cups chicken broth or water
To reconstitute mushrooms well, pour boiling water over them and allow to steep 10 minutes. Strain through a coffee filter and reserve liquid. Rinse mushrooms to remove any sand; chop finely.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, fry bacon until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels. Leaving 2 tablespoons bacon fat in pan, add giblets, mushrooms and onion and brown about 5 minutes. Add to Cornish drippings in roasting pan. Whisk in sherry and flour. Cook, whisking frequently for 3 to 4 minutes or until flour is browned. Add bacon, reserved mushroom liquid, and broth to flour mixture. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently, and cook gravy to thicken. Serve with hens.
Chicken Recipes - The Perdue Chicken Cookbook
Copyright (C) by Mitzi Perdue - Used with Permission
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