Roasted Cornish Hen with Fingerling Potatoes

Cluck cluck cluck! Like everyone else, chicken is the main meat I eat. So really, how many ways can you cook chicken? Apparently, more than I thought. Searching chicken on food network returned 7,000 results. Hrmph, who knew chicken was THAT interesting? A tad overwhelmed at trying to figure out what I should do differently with the two cornish hen I had....I just realized, you know - I haven't perfected a roasted chicken recipe.

A dash of seasoning, salt, pepper, etc. and pop it in the oven and voi-la, you're suppose to have perfect chicken? Sorry sir, not me. There's always something that is slightly wrong each time - too dry, not enough flavor on the entire chicken, burnt wings, etc. So this is the third attempt and I think I got it.

Roasted Cornish Hens with Fingerling Potatoes

1 or 2 cornish hen

two lemons sliced into quarters (de-seeded)

fresh basil

thyme

2 tbsp melted butter

entire garlic bunch

s&p

olive oil

fingerling potatos

1/4 cup chicken stock

Tony's seasoning (durh, if you read my blog you know I LOVE this stuff...)

Wash and pat dry the two cornish hens. Season the inside cavity of the hens with pepper and a sprinkle of tony's seasoning. Let it sit in the fridge for around 3 hours (overnight is better). Take the chicken out of the fridge - let it warm up on counter for about 20 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 375.

Slice the entire garlic bunch in half horizontally and then in half. I also like to smoosh each portion a little to get the garlic juices going. Zest the two lemons. Slice into quarter and make sure to deseed (but do not squeeze!). In a bowl, toss that with the sliced quarters garlic bunch, lemon zest and a quick dash of olive oil (roughly 2 tspn). Add basil and thyme. Stuff this into the cavity of the two cornish hen. Place hens in an oven safe pan. (I bet for a chicken - you can add other veggies like onions, carrots, bell peppers.)

Melt butter in microwave and once melted, use a brush and quickly brush skin of the hen. Season all over with salt and pepper. (I was tempted to season with tony's again, but I know I can overdo it at times. Ha!).

Wash and dry the fingerling potatoes. Slice in half. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Add these to the pan. Pour chicken stock in the pan and pop into oven for 1 hour (For chicken - would think you'd keep in there for 1 and 1/2 hours). I covered the chicken lightly (don't fold down sides) with aluminum foil. After 45 minutes, I took it off and let it cook uncovered. You'll notice there greens mixed with the potatoes - I had lots of leftover basil so I chopped and just tossed it in there. Added to the aroma but not really the taste of the potatoes in my opinion.

Take out and let it cool. Don't cut into it right away. By letting it cool, you make sure that the juices say in. Now, after patiently staring at the hen and all its golden brown goodness, get a plate, knife and chow down!