I love the little baby chickens!
Well it’s been kinda a crazy past ten days and it was hard to get Sunday’s post out so here it is! Better late than never. Besides suffering from a horrible case of Spring fever, I had a really sick dog (Handsome Hans) over the past week. It just breaks my heart when dogs are getting old and things just don’t work like they are supposed too. The seizure at 1 AM Monday night was clincher though. The scariest thing that I have ever witnessed with an animal. I really felt so helpless because there was nothing that I could do. Getting a 90 pound dog down three flights of stairs was even harder. I am so grateful that I have friends that actually answer their phones and race over at such a horrible hour to help out! The good news is- no cancer in the abdomen (he has been having those issues over the week too) so as long as he doesn’t keep having seizures, it was probably just a fluke thing. Doesn’t surprise me with this old boy!
Anyway… Last week in Denver something quite big happened in the concert world, something that has never happened before. Garth Brooks was in town and didn’t just play three or four shows and leave. He played nine shows in six days and not just nine shows- nine sold out shows! That’s 180,000 tickets that were sold! Heck that’s more people than most towns! Me, I’m not a big country music person and really haven’t listened to Garth since college in the 90’s but when someone says “hey, do you want tickets for free”, you go. End of story! What a blast! We had such a fun time and the people watching was a hoot! I even dragged out the dusty ol’ cowboy boots! Ye haw!
So last week at tennis practice I was asking around to see what people make for Easter dinner. I had a couple of the ladies suggest Cornish game hens! Why didn’t I think of that? Great idea and it’s been almost forever since I have made them. They are really easy to make, they are inexpensive and cook up in an hour! Who can beat that? I really should make them more often! I decided to make my standard “once a week” herb rub for chicken and make a nice wild rice stuffing ’cause it just looks fancy. Ha! I just made two of the “hens’ but the stuffing will make enough for four. This recipe is easy to adjust for however many you want to make! Enjoy and have a Happy Easter!
- 2- 4 Cornish Game Hens
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 box wild rice
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 pound panchetta, diced small
- 1/4 cup shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium carrot, diced small
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 3 tbs dry vermouth
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tbs olive oil
- [br][b]For the Herb Rub[/b][br]
- 2 Tbs fresh rosemary, minced
- 2 Tbs fresh thyme, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 4 tbs butter melted
- Prepare the wild rice according to package directions. I cook mine with chicken broth.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large sauce pan, cook panchetta until browned. Remove and set aside.
- Remove most of the oil from pan and melt the butter and the olive oil.
- Cook the shallot, garlic, carrots, rosemary, salt and pepper until translucent. Add the panchetta, cranberries, almonds and vermouth.
- Stir in the cooked wild rice and parsley. Set aside to cool.
- In a microwave safe bowl, add the butter, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and pasley. Place in the microwave for one minute or until melted.
- Stuff the chickens with about 1/2 cup of the rice mixture and place in a large baking dish. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with about one cup of chicken broth. (It’s ok if some of the rice mixture falls into the broth).
- Cover the chickens liberally with the butter herb sauce and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for one hour.
- After one hour raise the temperature to 400 degrees and cook for 10 more minutes.
- Serve with extra sauce from the pan or stir in some flour to make a gravy.
Before the show… It’s filling up! I’d say our seats were pretty darn awesome!
The man in black.. Oh wait, that’s Johnny Cash (God bless him), It’s Garth. Party on..
In the old days, people used lighters, now it’s cell phones. Go figure.
Cool stage! At least if you had to sit behind it you could see what was going on!
Seriously, check out this view from the other night! What a sunset, what a nice evening with awesome friends!