Cornish Game Hens, Wild Rice Stuffing and Cherry Sauce
If you've never tried Cornish game hens, you're missing a treat.  You buy them frozen in the meat section of your grocery store.  They cook quickly and taste so good!  Here is a delicious way to serve them.  I found this recipe in a Class of '95 cookbook put together by students at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, Washington, for a fundraiser.

2 cups wild rice (Uncle Ben's or make your own by simmering 1 cup wild rice with 4 cups water or chicken broth for one hour; pour off excess water.  Stir in chopped water chestnuts, salt and 1 Tbsp butter)
4 Cornish game hens

Thaw hens.  Wash them with water and pat dry.  Stuff with cooked wild rice, saving extra rice.  Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Spread extra rice over the bottom; place the four hens on top of the rice.  Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hour.  Remove the cover and continue baking for 15 minutes.

Serve with cherry sauce:
(may be made in advance and reheated)

5 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp ginger
1 can sour pitted cherries (NOT pie filling!)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup red currant jelly (but at any grocery store)

Drain cherries, reserving liquid, and set aside.  Combine all ingredients including cherry juice (but not the cherries) in a saucepan.  Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens.  Remove from heat and add cherries.  Pass around the table as a sauce for the hens.

Be careful not to drool into the sauce boil.

Happy eating!!

September 2007