Roasted Cornish Hens

Step 1

Set the Cornish hens out to come to room temperature about 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and set a rack to the middle position of the oven.

Step 2

While the hens are coming to room temperature, make the basting sauce. In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, combine the olive oil and butter.

Step 3

Once the butter has melted add the shallot, garlic, rosemary and lemon slices. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes and then remove from the heat to cool and infuse.

Step 4

Stuff each hen with 1-2 onion wedges, 1 lemon wedge, 2 sprigs of thyme, 2 rosemary sprig halves, 2 sage leaves. Tie the legs together with butcher twine, in a crossed position but not overly tightly.

Step 5

Spray the sides of an 11-inch by 13-inch baking pan (this helps prevent the sides of the hens from sticking to the pan while cooking), add remaining lemon slices and any of the onion wedges that were not stuffed into the hens (separate them into pieces).

Step 6

Baste the hens fully and place them with breasts up in the baking pan. Cook on 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

Step 7

Lower the heat to 350 and cook an additional 20 minutes. When an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees remove the pan from the oven.

Step 8

Allow the hens to rest for 15 minutes before serving. Reserve the flavorful pan juices to drizzle over the hens when serving.