Cornish Hen

I would have to say that Cornish Hen is one of my all time favorite meats. Then again...I pretty much love poultry all together. I could live off of just poultry and seafood as my only sources of meat. If only my husband wasn't such a red meat lover. HAHA. So I picked up a cornish hen to fix myself and it turned out AMAZINGLY well. Here's the recipe for your culinary pleasures.

1 hen (I use to make 1 per person but I couldn't even eat half of one myself last night)
Thyme
Marjorum
Salt
Pepper
Celery Seed
Rosemary
Butter (REAL butter...not country crook imitation or any of that kinda "fake" butter)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now take your hen and rinse it in the sink. I like to do this just to get the "juices" off and to make the surface moist to allow the herbs to stick.

Place the hen in a shallow roasting pan. Take your spices and combine in a bowl. I'd say a generous pinch of each (about 1/4-1/2 tsp). Sprinkle the mixture all over the top of the hen. Covering the entire breast, outside of the wings, and tops of the drumsticks.

Now you want to fill the cavity of the Hen. Absolutely fill it. I used roughly 3-4 tbsp of butter. But don't worry about measurments....just fill it. Trust me on this one. It'll keep the meat moist from the inside out. Then place about 3 tbsp's around the outside of the hen in the dish.

Once the oven is heated place the roasting pan with hen inside the oven WITHOUT a cover. This is CRUCIAL to crisping the skin. Just do it!

Now you want to take a small bowl while the hen is in the oven and melt a ton of butter in it. About 1- 1 1/2 cups of butter. This you'll use for basting the hen.

Roast the bird for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes. Checking it every 20-30 minutes and basting it. Roast it until the internal temperature is 180 degrees at the thickest part (the breast is generally the thickest).

After it's reached the required temperature remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes. Then slice and serve!! Your taste buds will thank you. teehee