Cornish Game Hens

Last night we both had our own bird! I have never made these before, and I was worried how they would turn out, but they tasted delicious! I didn't have the cherry preserves as listed below in the recipe, so I used the little bit of strawberry that I had & then added extra sugar & brown sugar so that the glaze would caramelize. Without the cherry preserves the hens weren't as red as I would have liked them to be but my glaze still tasted good. I also made green bean casserole & some stove top stuffing for the sides!

Crimson Cherry-Glazed Holiday Hens
2 tbsp of diced garlic
2 Cornish Game Hens (1 hen per person)
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/3 cup of diced shallot or onion
2 tbsp of butter
1 12oz jar of cherry preserves (with whole cherries)
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp of cloves

1| Preheat oven to 375. Make sure to dab the hens with a paper towel to remove all excess moisture, after removing from packaging. Then rub the skins with garlic & olive oil. Twist & tuck the wing tips underneath the back, (same as you would do for a turkey). Sprinkle with the salt & pepper all over hen. Tie the tail to the legs, with kitchen twine.
2| Roast for 1 hour to 1 & 30 mins, you want the thigh temp to be 180 degrees.
3| When the hens are almost finished in the oven make the glaze: Cook garlic & onion in the hot butter, for about 3 mins. Stir in the preserves, vinegar, allspice & cloves. Bring to boiling; reduce the heat but keep the pot boiling gently for about 20 minutes, continue to stir until it reaches glaze consistency. Take the hens out of the oven & pour the glaze over the top & serve! *This glaze makes quite a bit more than needed for only 2 hens, so I would not pour the entire batch on them, you don't want it to be overwhelmingly sweet.

And P.S.> The trick to really good green bean casserole is to put a dash of soy sauce & lots of ground black pepper in with the mushroom soup mixture!

Happy cooking!
~B