Dear Customers,
By the first week of July, summer has taken on bit of sameness. The thrill of vacation from school has waned a bit and you might even hear the occasional, “there’s nothing to do!” from your kids. Families that didn’t rush off on vacation as soon as June arrived are getting around to it now.
Those lush green meadows along every dirt road are slowly turning dusty and brown while those twice-weekly lawn mowings dwindle to once-a-week or even fewer.
When our family home was built back in 1969-70, the plans called for two steps down from the kitchen to the back lawn. My mother, in one of the most inciteful moves she ever made, insisted on a covered patio where the plans merely called for lawn. While the roof over that patio effectively cut the light into the kitchen by about 75%, the resulting living space has been a Godsend.
That covered patio has become our living room from about April through October! We spend so much time out there that I at one time decided to look into converting it into a 4-season room and utilize it year-round. I went so far as to look up the process on the internet. The conversion company listed five steps for “creating your beautiful, functional, 4-season oasis”! When I scrolled down to read the five steps and found out that Step #1 was, “SECURE FINANCING”, I decided maybe I’d just be happy with a 3 season patio!
Our gas grill resides out on that patio and we do use it all year round, often cooking our Thanksgiving turkey and our Christmas Eve tenderloin on it! Always on the lookout for grillables, I’ve always noticed those little packages of Cornish Game Hens in the meat frozen food cases and wondered what those would be like on a grill!
Once upon a time I had a rotisserie attachment for an earlier grill, but it seems to have gotten up and walked away. Fortunately, the recipe I found has a solution called spatchcocking where you remove the backbone using a knife or sharp kitchen scissors. Then you flatten the bird by bending the legs so they face outwards and pressing down firmly until you hear the breastbone crack.
While it sounds cruel, it allows the bird to cook more evenly. Allow the hens to come to room temperature and then pre-heat the grill to about 350° and place the hen on a clean and lightly oiled grill. Cover and cook for 5 minutes then flip and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Usually one Cornish hen is good for a single person. I didn’t offer suggestions for marinades or rubs, because pretty much everyone has a personal favorite!