Moroccan Cornish Game Hens

 Merry Christmas!

Recently my mother in law gave me a copy of a cookbook her church had published as a fundraiser. As is typical of this type of cookbook, many of the recipes had at least one can of soup as an ingredient! As I paged through it, I came across this recipe for Cornish Game Hens.  This Christmas I was not preparing any meals as we went to family both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  It happened to be December 23rd when I found the recipe, so I decided to make a nice meal for Christmas Eve, Eve! I had everything on hand except the couscous(thanks Sendik's meat sale for the hens in the freezer), so I braved a trip to Sendik's at 5 PM on the 23rd of December!

Moroccan Cornish Hen (God's Ingredients Mixed with Love at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church)

4 Cornish game hens
10 T butter/oleo
2 t cinnamon
1 t cardamom
1 t turmeric
1/2 t curry powder
1 c couscous
3/4 c chopped dates
1/2 c raisins
2 c chicken broth
1/2 c chopped carrots
1 small onion, chopped
5 T lemon juice
3 T ground almonds
1/2 c minced parsley
2 T pine nuts

Glaze
Bring to boil 1/2 c raspberry jelly, 1/2 c butter, 1/2 c brandy, 1/2 c lemon juice, 1 t tarragon

Heat stock with 2 T butter, nuts and spices, bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous and cook until liquid is absorbed, about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in raisins and dates, cover and let stand 15 minutes. Stir in carrots, onion, lemon juice and 4 T butter. Season to taste, cool and stuff birds. Roast at 375° for 1-1 1/2 hours, basting every 20 minutes with glaze.

I did make some changes to this recipe...I used 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 t cardamom and about 1/2 c raisins and omitted the dates.  I also cut back on the butter! I omitted the 4T butter added with the carrots and for the glaze I only used about 2 T.

These were fabulous! In the future I would omit the raisins completely, they are just not a family favorite.  I would also consider making the couscous as a side dish, everyone loved it.



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