Cornish Game Hens with Pomegranate Sauce

 

Hi Friends!

Tonight I made one of my favorite childhood dinners: Cornish Game Hens! We used to eat these occasionally growing up...I can remember begging my mom to buy them at the grocery store on several occasions. The hubby had never had them and had been talking about trying them for a while, so last time we went grocery shopping we picked up a twin pack.

I wanted to keep it simple, so after confirming some cooking temperatures via google: Cornish Game Hens, I headed to the kitchen and here's what I did:

I stuffed each with two slices of lemon, rubbed them with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary and black pepper

Then I put them in the oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, I combine the rest of my container of veggie broth (about a cup), the rest of my bottle of white wine (about 1/2 a cup) and the juice from half a lemon:

After 25 minutes, I poured half of the liquid over the hens, turned the oven down to 375 degrees and set the time for another 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, I poured the rest of the liquid over the birds:

Then things got a little crazy. I'd been thinking all day about what kind of sauce I was going to make to go with these and I decided I wanted to use up the other pomegranate that I bought. I pulled out all the arils and plopped them into my mini food processor. 

Then I added two clementines:

And turned it into this:

I poured the mixture into a colander to strain out the pulp:

Meanwhile, instead of wondering what temperature the hens were at, I was using my new thermometer that the hubby got me for Christmas! It's called a TruTemp Digital Thermometer by Taylor. You put the probe in whatever is in the oven and stick the display on the oven door. You can set the final temperature you want and it will beep when it is reached! I'm in love with it!!

When the birds were done, I pulled them out and let them rest (under foil of course, which I removed for the photo):

While the meat was resting, I roasted a mixture of white and sweet potatoes and reduced the pom/clem juice mixture in a small saucepan. After it reduced by half, it was much sweeter so I added the juice from 1/2 a lemon to cut the sweetness. The "sauce" didn't really thicken, but it tasted fantastic!!! *Sidenote, this meal was not the most photogenic...but oh well.

The side juice sauce:

I got tired of dipping and just poured some on my plate :)

The verdict? Good! The meat was moist and it's fun to get your own little bird. The sauce kinda reminded me of cranberry sauce and it actually felt a little like Thanksgiving all over again!

 I pulled most of the leftover meat when we were done, the immediately threw the bones in a pot to make some stock. It's simmering away right now :)

What about you? What's the best sauce you've ever made?

Enjoy!
--Lindsay