Cornish Hen with Mediterranean Garlic Spice Rub

After two weeks of amazing food from Chris, I decided it was my turn to cook for him.  I wanted to make something kind of fancy so I decided to make Cornish Hen.  I found my inspiration on The Mediterranean Dish.com.

The first thing I did was brine the hens.  I used Thomas Keller’s recipe, which is amazing.

Lemon Brine for Chicken

1 gallon cold water

1 cup plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey

12 bay leaves

1 head of garlic, smashed but not peeled

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

3 large rosemary sprigs

1 small bunch of time

1 small bunch of parsley

Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

I cut the recipe, designed to brine two 3-pound chickens, in half since I was only using two Cornish hens.  I combined a pint of water, 1/2 cup of the salt and the honey, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and parsley in a large pot.  I added the lemon zest and juice with the lemon halves and brought it to a simmer over medium heat.  I stirred it until the salt was dissolved and then let it cool completely.

After the liquid cooled, I poured it into my brining bucket and added the remaining 1 1/2 quarts of cold water.  I added the hens, making sure to submerge them completely, and put them in the refrigerator for the night.

After about 18 hours, I rinsed the birds off and patted them dry.  I returned them to the refrigerator to dry out before I used them for dinner.

Cornish Hen with Mediterranean Garlic Spice Rub

2 celery sticks, cleaned and chopped in large pieces

1 large sweet onion, roughly chopped

1 lemon or lime, juice of

4 Cornish hens (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds each)

2 cups chicken stock

 

Spice Rub

15-20 garlic cloves

Salt

2 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 lemon or lime, juice of

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Again I cut the recipe in half.  I put my cast iron in the oven and preheat the oven to 425-degrees.  While the oven heated, I worked on my mise-en-place.  I added all the ingredients for the spice rub in the single-serve container for the food processor.  It didn’t seem to work very well, maybe because it was such a small amount, so I switched to my immersion blender with the food processing attachment for better results.  I blended the mixture until it was a pasty consistency.

I rubbed the spice mixture all over the hens, inside and out, with a generous amount going under the skin.  I put the cast iron on a medium-high burner and added some oil.  I seared the hens on each side until they were nicely brown.  The hens got very dark very quickly.  I think I will pull the cast iron out of the oven sooner the next time so it doesn’t get as hot.  I set the hens aside to cool.

Chris has tougher hands than I do so he volunteered to hold the birds while I stuffed them with the onions and celery.  After stuffing them, I put the hens back in the cast iron and drizzled them with the lemon juice.  I put the lemon halves inside the cavities with the stuffing and sprinkled the birds with salt.

I put the cast iron in the oven and cooked them for an hour.  I set a timer to remind me to baste them every 15 minutes.  Helpful hint:  take the pan out of the oven to baste so you don’t lose all of your heat.  I checked the temperature in the thickest part of the breast after 45 minutes.  The hens were at 140-degrees.  Fifteen minutes later they were at 162-degrees so I took them out of the oven.  I know 165-degrees is the safe temperature.  If you pull it a few degrees under what you want, the residual heat while resting will bring it to the proper temperature.

While the hens rested, I wanted to make a pan sauce.  I drained the liquid from the cast iron into the fat separator.  I added about two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour to the bits left in the pan and whisked them together.  It turned a strange shade of grey.  Apparently, the pan was still very hot and it scorched the sauce.  Chris suggested I start over, so I grabbed a new frying pan and that’s what I did.

After I whisked the flour and butter together, I let it cook for a few minutes and then added the broth back to the pan.  I also splashed a bit of white wine into the mix.  I cooked and stirred the sauce until it had the consistency I wanted.  I tasted it to see if it needed salt and noticed the flour taste was still there.  Next time I will cook the rue longer to get rid of the raw flour taste.  Chris put the sauce in the hot oven to cook without reducing more.  That worked and the sauce was delicious.

I served the hens with the sauce, parsnip purée, green beans and avocado.  The meat was very moist and flavorful.  I noticed the sweetness of the parsnips seemed to compete with the bold flavors of the hen.  In the future, I think I will use mashed potatoes or cauliflower instead of parsnips.  While the food was delicious, I think a milder base would let the flavors of the hen shine.