Cornish Game Hens

[Golfgar4]

Tonight was our last Dutch Oven Monday meal. A week from today, Jenny and I will have finished our adventure in Yellowstone and will be in Bozeman, Montana.

So Ken and Sandy and us began talking about what we should have for our final meal. We reviewed all of the meals that we had over the summer, and we all agreed that we wanted to do cornish game hens again. The only difference was that Ken wanted more stuffing, so we decided to double the amount the recipe called for. Also on the first time around, we had the banana dump cake for dessert. But Sandy wanted to have something with her favorite fruit, blueberries. So I found a dandy blueberry dump cake recipe that we did, and it turned out to be the easiest dessert of all that we had.

We were a bit worried that we might not get to cook out this evening because we had very cold temperatures and a threat of snow. But the forecast changed just enough (they dropped the threat of snow but the cold temps stayed!) that we were able to get the job done. It did get a bit chilly out there all afternoon (+ - 31 degrees), but it turned out to be well worth it. Just like the first time, the hens came out tender and delicious. And the dump cake was a big hit.

Just to make it easy on everybody, I'll post the recipe for the cornish game hens again, plus, of course, the recipe for the blueberry dump cake.

I'm not sure exactly how Jenny and I will continue to do dutch oven cooking as we travel, but we're planning on doing it. I'll be loading all of the equipment in the slideout tray in the basement of the coach so that it'll be easy to get to. I guess as long as there will be others to cook wityh and/or for, we'll be able to "throw" some dinners together. That's the fun of DO cooking. So I may not be posting dutch oven meals every week like I've been doing, but I will post them whenever we do them.

Cornish Game Hens

Use a 14” deep dutch ( a 12” will work too)
Use 18 coals on lid in ring around edge
Use 10 coals on bottom in checkerboard pattern
Trivet
Oven Thermometer
4 Cornish Game Hens
1 Box Stove Top Stuffing
¼ to ½ teaspoon ground sage
1 can (14 ½ oz.) chicken broth
Poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper
Paprika
2 cups hot water
¼ cup cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
toothpicks

Mix the Stove Top dressing according to directions on box except use chicken broth in place of the water and add ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground sage. Set aside.

Clean Cornish game hens and stuff with dressing. Truss up hens with string and toothpicks.

Mix poultry seasoning, paprika, salt and pepper (all to tatste) together and sprinkle over chickens.

Place treivet in dutch and add 2 cups hot water. Place hens on trivet with breast side up. Place oven thermometer in a chicken. Bake until thermometer reaches 190 degrees. Remove hens from dutch.

De-glaze bottom of dutch.

Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with ¼ cup cold water and slowly pour into liquid in dutch to make gravy.
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Blueberry Dump Cake

Serves/Makes: 12

Ingredients:
1 quart fresh or frozen blueberries
1 can (8 ounce size) crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 box (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
1 cup broken nuts, optional
3/4 cup melted butter

Directions:
Put berries in a 9 x 13-inch pan baking dish; cover with pineapple and sprinkle with sugar. Sprinkle dry cake mix in an even layer over the fruit. If desired, scatter nuts on top. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F.

[keltin]

Wow Garry, that looks wonderful! I’m definitely trying this recipe! Since I only cook for two, I’ll have to cut it down to 2 hens (and I imagine 1 box of stuffing), but that should be just about right for my 10” oven.

What is the 2 cups in the bottom of the DO for? Is that to help the stuffing, or to help steam roast the hens?

I’m going to miss your weekly DO posts.

I look forward to them each week, but as long as you promise to do one every so often, I’ll be happy to wait for them!

[Golfgar4]

You figured it out! The 2 cups of water provide the base for the gravy, help keep the hens from burning on hte bottom, and provide the moisture for the dressing.

I wish I knew how often I'll be able to do some DO cooking, but until we land in Texas for 2 months, we'll be on the move quite a bit. I do expect to do a couple of meals while we're visiting our grandaughter in Fallon for a few weeks, but after that it'll be hit or miss.

But I won't be a stranger here. You're doing great on the meals you've been cran king out of your 10" DO. Keep 'em coming!