Valentine's Day 2011 - Roasted Cornish Hens with Cherry-Port Glaze

Oh wow . . . I'm speechless. This was lick your plate clean good . . .

 
This recipe from the December 2009 Cooking Light is definitely staying in our KEEP file, and I'm recommending it to all y'all.

• 1/2 C. cherry preserves
• 1/2 C. port
• 1 T. grated fresh ginger
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 (1 1/2 lb.) Cornish hens

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet; coat rack with cooking spray.
2. Combine preserves, port, ginger, vinegar, and 1/4 t. salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 9 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove and discard giblets and necks from hens. Rinse hens with cold water; pat dry. Remove skin; trim excess fat. Working with 1 hen at a time, tie ends of legs together with twine. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under hen. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 t. salt and 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper. Set on wire rack on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.
4. Brush hen with cherry mixture; bake 40 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the meaty part of thigh registers 165 degrees, brushing with cherry mixture every 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove twine; split hens in half lengthwise.

Yield: 4 servings

Notes: We set off the smoke alarm pretty much every time we opened the oven to baste. This terrified the fur babies and they were underfoot the entire rest of the evening. One way around that would be to do as my friends (who also made this for Valentine's Day) did -they grilled the birds to great success. We also did not enjoy cleaning our wire rack and baking sheet. I foresee a foil lined baking sheet next time we do this. And the next time we do this, even with only two of us, we'll make the full recipe and enjoy leftovers as opposed to all the effort we put into just one hen. Yum . . . leftovers!