Fancy Little Birds (Oven-Roasted Herbed Cornish Game Hens)

I’m not a big holiday celebration person, but I do like cooking special food for special occasions.  Christmas, growing up, was always a special meal, but it wasn’t one specific thing. For years, Christmas Eve was Welsh Rarebit (something like this recipe — completely not allergy-friendly beer cheese sauce over toast), and then it was stir fry.

This year, I wanted something special but not large, and when Cornish game hens were on sale at the grocery store, I decided that this would be perfect for Christmas Eve. There were two birds in my package, but it turns out that about half a bird is a single serving. I knew I wanted to spatchcock the birds (although it doesn’t cut the cooking time down much here) so that they might stay juicy, and also so that I didn’t have to worry about stuffing them. I cooked them over thick slices of orange, coated in herbes d’provence, and served them with dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a mushroom gravy. The dressing and gravy can be found as part of an previous post, my Thanksgiving casserole.

This bird did look elegant for dinner, but eating the parts is a little fussy. Maybe don’t make this for when you need your table manners to be most impressive? Unless you’re really good eating a tiny drumstick with a knife and fork? Cornish game hens are a nice change from chicken, but they are also a little fussy to eat.