Stuffed Cornish Hens

The Department of Agriculture describes the Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish* game hen as a young immature chicken (usually 5 to 6 weeks of age), weighing not more than 2 pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken.

I love Cornish Hens! It's perfect for a dinner party , they look great plated with a side and a salad. It's easy to cook them as they take less than half the time of a whole chicken. I like stuffing it with a bread, onion, herbs mixture and rubbing it with lots of butter. I had a few leftover chestnuts from my pork loin this week, so I'm using those also in the stuffing. You can use mushrooms, carrots or anything veggie like you may have in your fridge! I'm making 3 cornish hens but you can adjust the stuffing recipe for more!

Ingredients:
3 Rock Cornish Hens
3 tablespoons of butter
2 large yellow onions
6 slices of bacon
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small yellow onion chopped (stuffing)
1 rib of celery chopped
3 oz of chopped chestnuts (optional)
2 slices of thick bread cubed
chopped fresh herbs( parsley, tarragon, thyme,...)
1 lemon

Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add celery and cook for another 5 minutes. Add chestnuts, bread, salt, pepper, herbs and juice of 1 lemon, stir and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 425F.
Rinse the Cornish Hens in cold water, remove any extra fat and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the hens and rub it well with butter. Stuff the cavity of each hen with the stuffing and tie the legs together with kitchen twine.

Slice the 2 yellow onions and place them on the bottom of a baking dish. Place the stuffed hens on top of the onions and put 2 slices of bacon on top of each hen.
Cook them for 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer placed in between the leg and the thigh measures 175F.