This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe (sausage-stuffed Cornish hens, p 266) made me make a mental note to eat Cornish hens more often. You know when sometimes you feel like a roast chicken but there’s only one (or two) of you and a whole bird seems like a lot to cook? Now there’s nothing I love more than leftovers (no cooking the next day!) but sometimes the time just isn’t right – like, for example, when you’re going away in a couple of days and you know you won’t eat them? I made this week’s recipe a few days before leaving on our quick trip to France and Denmark and not only were these really easy to prepare, but they were the perfect size too.
Cornish hens don’t take that long to cook (because of their small size), even stuffed with a little sausage meat (that had been pre-cooked), these two took just under an hour to cook completely. I had planned on serving these at room temperature with a salad for dinner (obviously these were cooked in the afternoon so there was light to photograph them!) but for a reason that escapes me now, we didn’t end up eating these until the following day. I was worried that these would be a little dried out once reheated but in a gentle oven (around 300˚F) they were fine. The stuffing wasn’t piping hot but since I knew it was cooked, it didn’t matter.
I didn’t make the sauce for these, but wish I had. While the meat was moist and tasty, then skin crispy and the stuffing wonderfully flavourful, it really did need some sauce. Next time. Because there will be a next time. Cornish hens are the perfect roast chicken dinner for two, you know!
Find the recipe for Dorie’s sausage-stuffed Cornish hens here.
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Your hens look great Mardi. Enjoy France and Denmark!
They look lovely – this was such a simple dish.
Enjoy your time in Denmark. I’ve enjoyed your France pics so far 🙂
What a cozy meal.
Happy French Friday!
Your hens look perfectly cooked! Safe travels home 🙂
I hope you are getting the break you needed from the workaday world will share a little of your goings on with us. Your Canadian Cornish Hens look like Cornish Hens should look. I don’t know where we went astray but my so-called Cornish hens were huge. I also must admit when I re-heated the leftover hen the next day, it wasn’t that good. For most of the FFWD gang, this was a hit so I will re-try when I spot one of those little hens in the store. Yours look prettyt darn tasty.
I made the same mental note to myself – I have always loved Cornish hens and don’t make them often enough. Yours look perfect!
I need to remember to make these little birds more often too. I love making roast chicken, but with just the two of us here, a whole chicken is too much.
Have a fun trip!
I’m still a little sidetracked thinking about your trip – sounds wonderful! I can’t wait to hear about it. That said, your birds look delicious. I agree, it’s a nice size so that you can get both white and dark meat in a small size. Mine turned out nicely. And it was such a quick dinner – hard to go wrong. I think I must have thought that they were more work!
Beautiful!
Happy Holidays and do share pictures! I shall be on the lookout for these mini chickens for some time.
I also love Cornish Hens! They present so well for company, too! We really enjoyed this recipe and can see making it again.
Hope you are having a marvelous trip…Looking forward to hearing all about it!!
Have fun in Copenhagen. I’ve always wanted to visit and have yet to make it up there. Would love to hear what you thought about it.
How fun to know you were visiting both France and Copenhagen. We hit C way too briefly (as in to find the airport and fly out….) about 7 years ago and you are making me think I need to move on a trip back to Scandinavia 🙂 I will have to look for tumblr photos from you. And great job, as always, on getting the AMFT recipe done and beautifully photographed before heading out. So nice to know that you enjoyed it as well.
Pack a large wallet – it’s EXPENSIVE!
Your hens are so beautifully browned. Glad you enjoyed this lovely, quick, weeknight dinner. Hope you are enjoying your trip.
These birds looks so nice!!! I loved this recipe! Enjoy your trip!
So yummy in the pan!
These were absolutely perfect. Not much more to say. Have always found Cornish Hens flavourful, and the sausage stuffing was great.
I must admit, Mardi and I were both suffering a cold when these were made – so *shockingly* there was no wine pairing. (A sure sign Mr. Neil is sick!) However, there WAS a Steen from South Africa that I had originally pulled to pair with this…will have to try again next time. 😉