Sunday, October 10, 2010

Buried Bird

Buried under that tumble of apples, almonds and onions is half of a Cornish hen. I was feeling rather fallish even though our weather has warmed recently, so I decided to roast a Cornish hen with a fall flair.

The hen went into a 350 degree oven stuffed with a quarter of a small lemon, the stump of an onion and a small celery top, nestled alongside half of our potato crop and smeared with bacon fat to roast for about an hour. It is a continuing mystery to me why it takes just as long to roast a tiny Cornish hen as it does a full-sized chicken - but never mind, I digress.

While the hen was roasting, I chopped an onion, an apple (Fuji - fairly sweet), a stalk of celery and sautéed them in bacon fat with some fresh thyme and oregano from the garden and just a few red pepper flakes. When they were all nicely soft, I squeezed over a healthy shower of fresh lemon juice, a sprinkle of sherry vinegar and tossed in a handful of salted Marcona almonds.

The hen comes out and is divided in half, the topping goes on and you've got a taste of fall buried on your plate.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Toons said...

I guess Chickens and hens are like Garlic cloves. Is 1 garlic clove one of the big ones or one of the small ones?

Sunday, October 10, 2010  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

That's like restaurant food! Hubba, hubba.

Sunday, October 10, 2010  
Blogger Greg said...

I like that phrase "tumble of apples." Looks like a fine dinner.

Sunday, October 10, 2010  
Blogger Ms Brown Mouse said...

a tumble of anything on the plate just has to be good :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Jim, I guess you choose the size of chickens and garlic by how much of either you enjoy...

Cookiecrumb, Cornish hens are like that - they seem fancy, when they are just chicken again.

Greg, thanks, it was pretty tasty, especially with the hint of vinegar.

Ms Mouse, I'm inclined to agree with you. Tumbling implies a certain texture that I like.

Monday, October 11, 2010  

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