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.