Delicious “Cornish Game Hens with Orange Sauce” Recipe

During big holidays, my mom would often cook up a wonderful Turkey dinner. During those meals, I would decide to have some breast meat or some thigh meat. I might decide on a wing or maybe I wanted a leg! I didn’t typically have a little of all of these things though.

When it wasn’t a big holiday (just any day of the year), my mom might decide to make each of us in the family a Cornish game hen for dinner. As a kid, I loved that. It looked like a turkey, but it was real little. It was all mine to do with as I pleased. I could eat breast meat, thigh meat, both wings and both legs if I wanted to!!!! Mine all mine!!!!

What I didn’t know back then, was Cornish hens are fairly inexpensive and easy to make.

Ingredients to Use With the Cornish Game Hens,

(try to use organics whenever you can)

• One hen per person (in this recipe 2 will be cooked)
• Spray avocado oil (ok to use another type of spray oil)
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (ok to use another type of oil)
• 2 teaspoons coconut aminos
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 3 golden potatoes (only if you would like to make a side dish of cubed boiled potatoes)
• Butter, margarine or a buttery spread (optional, enough to put on the potatoes)
• Sour cream or a sour cream substitute (optional, enough to put on the potatoes)
• 1 can of green beans (only if you would like a quick and easy vegetable as a second side dish)

Prepping the Oven, the Dish and the Cornish Hens then Begin Baking

First, position your oven rack to allow the hens to cook close to the center of the oven. Set the oven to 375°F, (191°C), on bake.

Bring your ingredients out so they are ready for use.

Place a wire rack on the bottom of a baking/roasting dish, (no lid is needed for this recipe).

I love my CorningWare SimplyLite bakeware. Mine all came with glass and plastic lids. I have used these dishes for hot and cold food. I have used them for various salads (like potato salad). I have used them to transport cookies to a party. I use them in the oven all of the time (without the plastic lids). The dishes clean up beautifully with my secret weapon (seen at the bottom of this post).

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any of this type still being sold. The closest I could find was a three quart rectangular dish made by Corning. It doesn’t come with a lid but it does have easy lift handles.

I was able to find a pair of wire racks that might work well for you in these Corning dishes. The set is very inexpensive.

Spray some avocado oil on the rack and over the bottom of the dish.

Your hens may be either fresh from the butcher or packaged and ready to be cooked (the ones I have are packaged.

Open the packages and remove the hens. Verify the cavity inside the hens are empty (you do not need anything that might be inside the hens, in this recipe).

Place the hens in the baking dish.

Brush the surface of the hens with grapeseed oil.

Once the oven has reached the correct baking temperature, put the hens in the oven.

Making the Orange Sauce.

In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of coconut aminos,

Measure and stir in 2 tablespoons of honey.

Measure and stir in 1 tablespoon of distilled white vinegar. Keep stirring the ingredients until the honey is fairly well dissolved.

Measure and pour in ¼ cup orange juice.

Back to the Hens

Baste the hens with some of the orange sauce now and at least two more times (about every twenty minutes to a half an hour). The hens will be in the oven for between an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and thirty minutes.

In the last thirty minutes of cooking (to finish even browning and cooking), I separated the hens.

Not all ovens are alike. Your hens may cook quicker or may take longer to cook.

At one hour and fifteen minutes of cooking time, check the hens for doneness. Pierce the center of a thigh with a meat thermometer (avoid touching the bone as that could cause an incorrect temperature reading). The hens should be at least 180°F (82°C). Any juice that comes from the hens should not be red or display any hint of pink. When the hens are fully cooked, juices running from them will look like oil, (kind of transparent or golden).

The First Simple Side Dish

About halfway through the hen’s cooking time, I started making a couple of side dishes. I rinsed and cut golden potatoes.

We found this Royal brand bamboo cutting board on Amazon, as part of a set of three, (one small one medium and one large size).

You may not know this, but bamboo is a hardwood. Bamboo is not a tree, but a grass. Even though it is a type of grass, it is harder than oak. Bamboo will grow to maturity, ready for harvest, in three to five years. Oak matures in twenty to thirty years. It makes more sense to harvest bamboo than oak for the sake of cutting boards. The next time you want to buy yourself a nice set of cutting boards, save a tree and purchase bamboo cutting boards.

I put the potatoes in a five-quart pot of water with a half teaspoon of salt.

I brought them to a boil. They boiled for thirty minutes. I drained them and served them on the side with butter and sour cream (well kind of butter and kind of sour cream).

The best investment I ever made, was when I bought my GreenPan set of cookware. I have owned lots of non-stick cookware, but others I have owned seem to always get scratched. I end up throwing them away.

I haven’t had that problem with this brand. I’ve had my set for about three years now, and don’t expect to purchase any other brand going forward. My set has a non-stick ceramic interior. Everything washes off easily.

The Second Simple Side Dish

I grow vegetables during the year, but this year, I haven’t grown green beans. Even though, we love green beans with dinner. Honestly, one of our favorite green beans is canned. We often use Del Monte brand green beans.

They only take a few minutes to heat up. I use this CorningWare SimplyLite one-and-a-half quart casserole dish several times a week. Unfortunately, these dishes aren’t easy to find now. I was able to find a similar CorningWare dish that comes with a lid.

I use this dish when I want to warm up food in the microwave or bake something in my oven. It comes with a glass lid to reduce splatter mess and a plastic lid too for cold item storage.

Dinner is Served

Well, everything is done and the meal looks great. I hope someday soon, you treat yourself, your family and or friends to a wonderful Cornish game hens meal.

A Helpful Cleanup Hint

Remember I told you earlier about a way to easily clean CorningWare baking dishes? During cooking when splatter becomes baked onto CorningWare, it can be a nightmare to clean. Use Cerama Bryte.

You will also want to use a cleaning pad designed to be used with Cerama Bryte. Cooking splatter comes off so easily this way.

After you have removed all of the splatters, rinse the baking dish thoroughly, ensuring all of the Cerama Bryte is gone. After this, put the dish into the dishwasher or wash the dish by hand (ensuring all of the cleaning product is rinsed away).

Other Things You Might Like To Learn About

A Comprehensive List of Kitchen Greats

Over time, I have been given and have bought lots and lots of kitchen appliances, gadgets and tools. If you would like to read about those items I found to be great (and a few not-so-great), click here.

Home Grown Vegetables

If you like fresh green beans, click here to learn how to grow and preserve your own “Pole Green Beans“.

Are You a Collector of Antiques or Collectibles?

Hall China

Were you wondering about that beautiful, yellow, Hall China Teapot in one of the pictures above (the picture with the place setting)? Where do you think it was made? Here is a link for you to learn more about these highly sought-after collectibles and the company that made “Hall China – Antiques and Collectibles”.

Occupied Japan

The dinner plate featured in the meal above is one of thousands of pieces of fine china (amongst other things), that were made in Occupied Japan. Occupied Japan came into existence after the end of WW2. Click here to read how this collection of specifically named pieces came about.

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