Sunday Supper on Wednesday

I left early on Wednesday for work. Why? The weather wasn’t bad. But, I needed to go shopping!

I stopped at Meijer’s and popped in to get a loaf of sourdough bread. Next I went to Home Depot and got another pane of that Plexiglas to fix the squirrel feeder. Then I went to work.

I did my morning walk outside and it wasn’t bad.

At lunch, I went straight home and made a BLT with my fresh bread, the leftover bacon and the tomatoes and Romaine lettuce. It tasted so good (and I had enough time) that I made another one.

Back at work, I walked outside at 3:00 PM as well.

When I got home after work, I changed clothes and began the Wednesday night wash. Then I started on making supper.

As you may recall, I already have the wild rice (cooked in chicken broth instead of water) mixed with a few of the sautéed and chopped crimini mushrooms. To that I added 1/2 cup of diced celery, 1/2 cup of green onion (cut into thin rounds), two tablespoons of good soy sauce and about 2/3 cup of water chestnuts, sliced. That all went into a stainless steel bowl and was topped with six tablespoons of melted butter. I tossed that lightly to mix.

Then I got out the stars of the show, two Cornish game hens. I washed them thoroughly, salted the inner cavity, and then lightly stuffed them with the wild rice. Then I trussed them for cooking and put them in a roaster pan with a rack.

Since this recipe was meant for four Cornish game hens, I had a LOT of stuffing left. Thankfully, the recipe said that any leftover stuffing could be put in a casserole dish and added to the preheated 375 degree F. oven during the last 30 minutes of cook-time. So, I put the leftovers in a Pyrex dish and covered it with foil (the recipe didn’t call for that, but I figured, “What the hell? I don’t want this to dry out!”) for later.

I stuck the Cornish game hens in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes (it will take a full hour before they are done). Then I went and put the wash into the dryer.

When the timer went off, I put the stuffing in the oven and basted the Cornish hens with melted butter. Then I reset the timer for 30 more minutes. I hung up the clothes while I waited. Finally, it was time.

I made the “Mushroom and Wine” sauce while the Cornish hens rested under foil. I put the pan dripping (not as much as you might think, but they are little suckers) into a small saucepan and added  two tablespoons of sliced green onions and three tablespoons of dry white wine. I put that on “High” and let it reduce by half (about 10 minutes). When it was reduced, I took it off the heat and added 1/4 cup of melted butter and the mushrooms I sauteed yesterday. I had taken them out of the fridge to warm to room temp when I first started on the Cornish hens since, had I made this all in one day, they would have been sitting and cooling.

I plated one hen after removing the truss and scooping out the dressing. I added about half of the dressing from the Pyrex pan and poured half the wine sauce on the Cornish hen.

Then I proceeded to demolish the whole Cornish hen! It all was delicious!! The meat was moist and juicy, the sauce was enough to add a different taste without being cloying and the stuffing was a real variation on the Uncle Ben’s wild rice that I know and love. Damn that was good!

Sadly, it came to an end all too soon (as all good things do) and I was left with a large kitchen cleanup before I could go to bed…

The other Cornish hen and the remaining stuffing went into the fridge after cooling, BTW.