Roasted Game Hens with Truffle Herb Butter
This is a surprisingly easy way to roast Game Hens, but with outstanding results! Hens get rubbed all over with a composed butter mix of fresh herbs and...fresh truffles! If you don't have fresh truffles, truffle oil will work, too. It may seem "over the top" to go this way, but believe me, it's WORTH it!
Ingredients
- 4 Cornish Game hens about 1–½ lbs each
- 2 medium yellow onions peeled and quartered
- 3 carrots chopped
- 1 lb baby gold Yukon potatoes halved
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
- Cracked black pepper
- Kosher salt
- 1 lemon cut into quarters
- 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh tarragon minced
- 10 thyme sprigs
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 Tbsp fresh Pecan Truffles, finely grated (best on a microplane)
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup chicken stock divided
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ Tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Prep the Cornish hens. Remove the hens from the packaging and dry all over with paper towels. Tuck wings under body. Tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Stuff a lemon wedge into each of the cavities of the hens.
- In a large roasting pan arrange onions, carrots, and potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl mix together rosemary, tarragon, thyme, garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, Kosher salt, grated truffle, and melted butter.
- Drizzle and rub butter mixture all over each hen until evenly coated. Add seasoned hens on top of the vegetable/potato mixture in the roasting pan. Add chicken stock and 1/2 cup white wine to the bottom of the pan.
- Place the roasting pan in the preheated oven and bake for 55-65 minutes or until the thermometer registers 160°F in the thickest part of the breast. You can baste occasionally with the juices that collect in the roasting pan.
- Remove hens from the oven, draining the juices from the cavities back into the roasting pan, and let them rest, covered with foil, for 10-20 minutes. Temperature of the birds will continue to rise to 165° while they rest.
- While birds are resting, remove the vegetables from the pan and keep warm. Add 1 Tbsp of chicken stock from the 2nd 1/2 cup into a small bow; add the cornstarch and mix into a slurry. Deglaze the roasting pan with the remaining chicken stock. and transfer into a saucepan. Bring the deglaze liquid to a boil then stir in the cornstarch/broth mixture and simmer until thickened. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, as desired.
- Serve hens with roasted carrots, onions and potatoes. Drizzle with pan sauce.
Notes
If you can't find or don't have fresh truffles, you can substitute an equal amount of truffle oil for the grated truffle.
You can purchase a variety of truffles, including Pecan Truffles, in season at Truffle Dog Company. They also have a selection of truffle oils.