Spatchcock roasting of a Cornish Hen makes for a quick and easy dinner. Today we are having it after a day of spring yard work.
The bird will roast on a bed of veggies. We generally use just carrots and onion (Teal hates celery) and sometimes half of a lemon.
Oil a small glass roasting dish. In it place 2 carrots chopped, 1 medium onion chopped, 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic.
Spatchcock the bird. I simply cut down one side of the backbone, leaving it attached. Crack open the bird and you may need to cut the breast cartilage to get it to lay flat.
Pat it dry and sprinkle generously with granulated garlic and Penzey’s Seasoned Salt. Let it rest on the counter for up to 30 min or so while the oven preheats. This helps dry the skin so it gets crispier.
Preheat the oven to 425F and set for convect roast.
Roast at 425F for 30-40 min until the internal temp reads 170F in the thighs. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 min before serving. Around our house the bird must be jealously guarded at this point or all of the skin will “magically” disappear when your back is turned.
Serve with your choice of sides. Given that it is currently spring in Wisconsin, I will have fresh picked pan roasted asparagus and crispy baked potato cubes. To make it easy, roast the asparagus with the bird for the last 15 minutes. Note that this is asparagus for one and bird for two.
PS. Around our house, Cornish Game Hens are jokingly referred to as “Dead Baby Chickens” and end up as “DBC” on the shopping list. This came about when the kids where little. We had picked up a few cornish game hens and were planning on having them for dinner. The kids asked: “What are Cornish game hens?” . To this we replied “baby chickens”. Somehow they conjured up the thought of chicks running around on the counters and table being chased by forks and knives. We killed that thought with: ” they are dead baby chickens – just smaller than regular chickens”. This mollified them, but since then they have been known as “dead baby chickens” around our house.
Mark Bronkalla