Orange-Glazed Cornish Hens

For our first "theme" we decided to make Spring dishes. I thought a citrus chicken would be perfect for Spring. I have always wanted to make Cornish hens and thought this would be a great time to try. I found a recipe online at allrecipes.com a few days ago that sounded easy and delicious. I was right. They were easy and tasty.

Orange-Glazed Cornish Hens

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 cups cooked rice

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup grated orange peel

4 (1 1/4 pound) Cornish game hens

GLAZE:

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

DIRECTIONS:

In a skillet, sauté the onion, celery and almonds in butter. Add rice, sugar, salt, thyme and orange peel; mix well. Loosely stuff hens. Place, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow baking pan. In a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients; spoon some over hens. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Cover and bake 40 minutes longer until juices run clear, brushing often with remaining glaze.

Here is the first step. I had my rice cooking while I sautéed the vegetables.

Added the rice, salt, sugar, and orange peel.

Here is the glaze. It doesn't look like much, but it sure tasted good.

Here are the hens stuffed, glazed, and ready to go in the oven.

Golden brown to perfection. They were so moist and juicy. Comments from my husband and brother-in-law included "delicious" and "that was good!"