A perfect “little chicken” for a dinner party or Sunday dinner, Rock Cornish Game Hens have been around since the 1950’s. They are very flavourful, but can be a little dry and are often served with a sauce.
When I first started to make this recipe, I used to use raisins for a raisin sauce. With the advent of dried cranberries (Craisins), I changed the recipe and the cranberry flavour adds a nice touch to the sauce.
You may find that some people prefer a whole hen, but half a hen makes a nice meal for most.
Enjoy!
Rock Cornish Hens with Craisin Sauce
Print recipe| Serves | 6 - 8 |
Ingredients
- 4 Rock Cornish hens
- JE (just enough) salt to taste
- 1/4 melted butter
- 2/3 cups Craisins
- 2/3 cups orange juice
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 Tsp paprika
- good grinding of fresh pepper
- 2 Cups milk
Directions
| Heat oven to 350 °F . Wash hens and pat dry with paper towel. Sprinkle salt in the cavities. Place hens breast side up on rack in open shallow roasting pan; Brush with melted butter. Do not add water. Do not cover. Roast 50 minutes brushing hens 3 or 4 times with the melted butter. | |
| Craisin Sauce | |
| Meanwhile, combine the Craisins and orange juice in small saucepan; heat to boiling. Take off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes with the cover on. | |
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Melt ¼ cup butter in small saucepan. Take off the heat and blend in the flour, 1 tsp salt, the paprika and pepper. Add about ¼ cup of the milk and stir in. Place it back on the stove and continue to stir and gradually add the rest of the milk; continue to stir until it thickens. Gradually stir in the Craisin-orange juice mixture. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it with additional orange juice or milk.  | |
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Increase oven temperature to 400 °F ; roast hens 10 minutes longer or until brown.  | |
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Cut each hen in half, place on plate. Serve with "Easy Steamed Rice" and Craisin sauce.  | |
Easy Steamed Rice
| Serves | 2 |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice (makes 1 cup of cooked rice)
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 3 - 4 Cups of water or chicken, beef or vegetable broth
Directions
| Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the rice and stir it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook the rice in the boiling water for 10 minutes. | |
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Drain the rice into a strainer and then fill the bottom of the saucepan that you just used with about 2 - 3 inches of water. Place the strainer on the saucepan (ensure that the rice is not sitting in water. Cover the strainer and bring the water to a boil (steaming the rice). Cook for at least 20 minutes, but can continue to steam it until it is ready to be eaten. To increase the number of servings, just add more rice to the boiling water and follow the other steps.  | |
| Variation 1 | |
| I will often cook some onions and mushrooms in a small frying pan and add them to to the cooked rice before serving. Sometimes I just add a tablespoon of butter to the rice and stir it in. | |
| Variation 2 | |
| If you would like to cook brown rice, increase the initial cook time in the water from 10 to 14 minutes and then steam it until it is tender. | |
| Variation 3 | |
| Cook the rice in chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead of water for the first 10 minutes and then steam over water as described above. | |