Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Herb & Bacon Cornish Hen Halves in the Dutch Oven

This one was pretty cool, and very easy.  A nice, one-pot, one-step meal.  I didn't get any pictures of it.  It just turned out nice.

Usually, when we buy cornish hens, they're whole, but this time we found some that were split in half, down the spine. That made it easy to layer like this.

12" deep dutch oven
12-14 coals below
16-18 coals above

  • 4 medium potatoes, halved and sliced
  • 2 medium onions, sliced

  • ~2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Parsley
  • Basil
  • Oregano
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • Salt
  • Pepper

  • 4 halves of cornish hens (one per person), thawed
  • 4 slices thick cut bacon


I started off by creating the bottom layer (I did all this while the coals were heating up).  I cut the potatoes into large chunks, and the onions into quarters and spread them over the bottom of the dutch oven.  That would serve to elevate the hen halves above the drippings.

Then, I mixed all of the ingredients in the second set.  I played it pretty loose with the amounts.  Just shake some in the bowl and stir.  Taste it and see.  I made it a little runnier than a paste.

Make sure that the hens are thawed.  There were some that weren't, and when we were serving them, a few weren't completely done.  I was embarrassed, and we had to finish them in the microwave.  What a shame for a dutch oven cook.

Anyway, I covered a hen half in the herb baste, draped a piece of bacon over it and set it in the dutch oven.  I had to kind of overlap them a bit to fit them all in.  That went out onto the coals until they read 170 degrees.

See?  Simple.  But delicious.  Even the microwaved ones weren't too bad.

...And afterward, I made stock.  Yum!




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Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.




2 comments:

  1. You make the most awesome things in that black pot of yours.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I'm glad you come and visit often!

    ReplyDelete

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