Hey everybody. I thought I'd take a shot at making a series of cooking threads that are picture based. These recipes will teach you to make random dishes from scratch. I'll try to do one each weekend that I cook Blondie dinner...which is usually once per weekend.
The quality of these pictures is not great, took them with my PDA...my camera got stolen a few months back. I should have a new one soon so the quality should improve greatly.
Some of these recipes are inspired by books, TV, or family. When possible I will give credit to the source that gave the inspiration or basis for the recipe.
Today's dinner: Pan seared game hens.
Source of inspiration: Good Eats with Alton Brown
Things you will need:
1 - 12" Cast Iron Skillet
Heavy scissors or kitchen shears
A fairly sharp paring knife
1 clay brick
Tin foil
2 cornish game hens
20 to 25 fresh pearl onions, peeled
4 strips of thick sliced bacon cut into 1/2" pieces
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
About an hour to do all this
First, wrap your brick in tin foil and put it into a 500 degree pre-heated oven. I know it sounds crazy but we'll get back to this later, for now let's just let the brick get good and hot.
Next, it's time to prepare your birds. This is where most of your prep work is going to be. Usually game hens are bought frozen so be sure that the hens are completely thawed before starting.
First arrange your birds on a working surface, breast side down, so that the neck is facing you and the tail is facing away from you...
We need to remove the spine from the neck to the tailbone. Take your kitchen shears and start cutting beside the spine and go towards the tailbone. Continue cutting until you are all the way out the back side...
Do the same cut on the opposite side of the spine...
The spine should now be removed, do the same step on your other bird...
Next take your paring knife. Inside the cavity you just created, you will see some cartilidge covering what is called the keel bone. make a cut in the cartilidge over the keel bone...
Once you have cut the cartilidge, just take both sides of the bird and open it like a book. The keel bone should pop up and you can pull it right out. You might have to do a little more cutting with your knife here to get it out entirely...
Hard part's over, now flip your birds over so the skin side is facing up. Just use your knife to poke a couple of holes in the skin near the tail area so that you can tuck the legs in and keep them secure during the cooking process...
Next, put your cast iron skillet over medium heat and throw in your bacon pieces. Pro-tip: use your kitchen shears to snip the bacon into the pan rather than cutting it with a knife. Raw bacon is sticky and a pain in the ass to work with. This will make things a bit easier.
Now, while the bacon is browning season your birds on both sides with kosher salt and ground pepper to taste. After the bacon bits are cooked, drain them but save the grease (not just for April). Put about a tablespoon of the grease back into the skillet and return it to the heat. Reserve your bacon bits on the side for later. Immediately add your birds skin side down and throw in the onions...
Now, take that hot brick out of the oven and stick it on top of the birds. This will do 2 things, it will press down the hens so they cook more evenly and it will heat from the top down as the pan heats from the bottom up. Cook the birds like this for 5 minutes on the medium heat.
After 5 minutes on the stove, take the whole pan...brick and all...and stick it into the oven which should still be at 500 degrees. Bake here for about 15 minutes or until the thigh meat reaches internal temperature of about 175 degrees.
Take the pan out and serve skin side up, garnish with the now carmelized onions and bacon bits that you set aside. I like to serve long grain wild rice and a salad or other vegetable on the side. The wild rice really brings out the earthy flavors of the hens. The final product should look like this...
And there you have it, the whole process should take between 45 minutes and an hour. I hope you all get an opportunity to try it out.
If anyone trys this out, let me know how it went. Did you do anything to improve the recipe? How did you like it?
Next week if I'm feeling saucy I'll make some pizza dough from scratch and homemade pizza sauce for an awesome ERage family pizza recipe. It's easier to do than you think.
Enjoy!
Love,
ERage
The quality of these pictures is not great, took them with my PDA...my camera got stolen a few months back. I should have a new one soon so the quality should improve greatly.
Some of these recipes are inspired by books, TV, or family. When possible I will give credit to the source that gave the inspiration or basis for the recipe.
Today's dinner: Pan seared game hens.
Source of inspiration: Good Eats with Alton Brown
Things you will need:
1 - 12" Cast Iron Skillet
Heavy scissors or kitchen shears
A fairly sharp paring knife
1 clay brick
Tin foil
2 cornish game hens
20 to 25 fresh pearl onions, peeled
4 strips of thick sliced bacon cut into 1/2" pieces
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
About an hour to do all this
First, wrap your brick in tin foil and put it into a 500 degree pre-heated oven. I know it sounds crazy but we'll get back to this later, for now let's just let the brick get good and hot.
Next, it's time to prepare your birds. This is where most of your prep work is going to be. Usually game hens are bought frozen so be sure that the hens are completely thawed before starting.
First arrange your birds on a working surface, breast side down, so that the neck is facing you and the tail is facing away from you...
We need to remove the spine from the neck to the tailbone. Take your kitchen shears and start cutting beside the spine and go towards the tailbone. Continue cutting until you are all the way out the back side...
Do the same cut on the opposite side of the spine...
The spine should now be removed, do the same step on your other bird...
Next take your paring knife. Inside the cavity you just created, you will see some cartilidge covering what is called the keel bone. make a cut in the cartilidge over the keel bone...
Once you have cut the cartilidge, just take both sides of the bird and open it like a book. The keel bone should pop up and you can pull it right out. You might have to do a little more cutting with your knife here to get it out entirely...
Hard part's over, now flip your birds over so the skin side is facing up. Just use your knife to poke a couple of holes in the skin near the tail area so that you can tuck the legs in and keep them secure during the cooking process...
Next, put your cast iron skillet over medium heat and throw in your bacon pieces. Pro-tip: use your kitchen shears to snip the bacon into the pan rather than cutting it with a knife. Raw bacon is sticky and a pain in the ass to work with. This will make things a bit easier.
Now, while the bacon is browning season your birds on both sides with kosher salt and ground pepper to taste. After the bacon bits are cooked, drain them but save the grease (not just for April). Put about a tablespoon of the grease back into the skillet and return it to the heat. Reserve your bacon bits on the side for later. Immediately add your birds skin side down and throw in the onions...
Now, take that hot brick out of the oven and stick it on top of the birds. This will do 2 things, it will press down the hens so they cook more evenly and it will heat from the top down as the pan heats from the bottom up. Cook the birds like this for 5 minutes on the medium heat.
After 5 minutes on the stove, take the whole pan...brick and all...and stick it into the oven which should still be at 500 degrees. Bake here for about 15 minutes or until the thigh meat reaches internal temperature of about 175 degrees.
Take the pan out and serve skin side up, garnish with the now carmelized onions and bacon bits that you set aside. I like to serve long grain wild rice and a salad or other vegetable on the side. The wild rice really brings out the earthy flavors of the hens. The final product should look like this...
And there you have it, the whole process should take between 45 minutes and an hour. I hope you all get an opportunity to try it out.
If anyone trys this out, let me know how it went. Did you do anything to improve the recipe? How did you like it?
Next week if I'm feeling saucy I'll make some pizza dough from scratch and homemade pizza sauce for an awesome ERage family pizza recipe. It's easier to do than you think.
Enjoy!
Love,
ERage
i wish i wasn't like that, but what do you do? i like the idea of spange cooking. 