2 Cornish game hens
Kosher salt, coarse
Black pepper
3/4 lemon, cut into 3 wedges
5 sprigs fresh rosemary (one with leaves finely chopped)
1 apple, chopped (for stuffing)
1/2 cup coarse ground pecans (for stuffing)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c white wine
1/4 c low-sodium chicken broth
Preheat oven to 450F (425F for convection oven).
Place hens on either a foil-lined baking pan or casserole dish, breast side down.
In a bowl, mix together the chopped apples, chopped rosemary, and pecans.
Insert a lemon wedge and a full rosemary sprig into the cavity of each hen, and fill remaining space with stuffing mix.
Drizzle some olive oil on the backs of each hen, be sure to coat all the skin. Pat some salt onto the skin, and sprinkle some pepper on as well.
Roast for 20 minutes.
While hens are roasting, mix together the white wine & chicken broth. Take the remaining lemon wedge, squeeze the juice into the bowl for added lemon flavor. Set aside.
Reduce oven temp to 350F (325F for convection oven).
Pull out hens, turn breast side up.
Slowly pour the mixture of the bowl over the hens, making sure to get some inside the cavity as well.
Salt & pepper to taste, sprinkle minced garlic over breasts.
Lay the remaining rosemary sprigs on top of the breasts, spreading them out evenly to cover as much of the them as possible.
Put hens back in oven, and baste with pan juices every 10 minutes.
Continue roasting for another 30-45 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165F.
The end result should look something like this--
Definitely not a low fat meal, but very tender and savory. I made this before I started Paleo, so the stuffing was a homemade bread-crumb. I'm sure the apples & pecans will taste just as good and complement the lemon and rosemary.
