Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Cranberry Glaze

Tweeky's Note:

This recipe was e-mailed to me by a friend. I made it this year for Christmas Eve dinner with great raves and success so I wanted to share it with you.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Glaze

• 2 ¼ cups cranberries , rinsed and drained
• ¾ cup dry red wine
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Game Hens and Stuffing

• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1⁄3; cup minced onion
• 1⁄3; cup minced celery
• 1⁄3; cup cranberries , rinsed and drained,coarsely chopped
• 2 cups French bread cubes , 1/2 " thick
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried sage , crushed
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme , crushed
• ½ teaspoon salt , divided
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper , divided
• 4 Cornish hens , giblets removed,thawed,rinsed and dried
• kitchen string

Directions:

1. Prepare the glaze: Combine cranberries and wine in saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Stir in honey and continue to simmer 2 minutes.
3. Strain glaze, stir in oil and set aside.
4. Prepare the game hens and stuffing: Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, add onion, celery and cranberries.
5. Saute for 3 minutes.
6. Add sauteed mixture to the French bread cubes.
7. Let cool.
8. Stir in chicken broth, parsley, sage, thyme, 1/4 Tsp.
9. salt and 1/8 Tsp.
10. pepper.
11. Stuff game hens with the stuffing and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
12. Place hens in a roasting pan.
13. Brush some of glaze over each game hen and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
14. Place in a preheated 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.
15. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue roasting for 45 minutes longer.
16. Baste hens with glaze and sprinkle with salt and pepper (salt& pepper is optional, I didn't do it) twice more during the cooking time.
17. Remove hens from oven and let rest 5 minutes.
18. Cut strings and serve.

Reviews

[Chef Jean]

This was really delicious! I loved the stuffing and they cooked up just perfectly. The only problem I had was the glaze turned out very thick and there was no way to strain it, so I just spread it on the hens anyway. The flavor was great so I didn't really worry about it!

[- Carla -]

I recently came across this recipe and it looked delicious! I wanted to try this recipe with our Thanksgiving dinner - however between the fact that my husband strongly dislikes cornish game hens and turkey's are few and far between here to buy, I had to settle for a French Free Range Chicken for our Thanksgiving dinner. Now - I only used the "Cranberry Glaze" portion of this recipe with the directions as stated but with the additional variation of adding 1 cup chicken broth and 1 tablespoon thyme. I used a Dutch oven and cooked my bird breasts down for the first portion of cooking time - this gave such a moist and delicious flavour, I can not wait for another holiday moment to make this again!

[NcMysteryShopper]

Very nice little hens! The glaze was very elegant and had a nice flavor. I liked the stuffing, but I would double the recipe next time and cook some in a casserole dish. The time was right on, the hens were moist and tender and perfectly cooked. The last 15 minutes I added the pan juices to the glaze and basted the hens. I also did not add additional salt and pepper when basting. This was a great Thanksgiving dinner for our small family!