Butterflied Roasted Cornish Game Hens

From the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis

Introduction

These cute little birds make a simple and elegant entree for entertaining. Some butchers offer them fresh, but most often you will find game hens in the frozen section of the supermarket. Just plan a couple of days before serving so that you can slowly defrost them in the refrigerator. We prefer to use an imported Emmenthaler cheese in this recipe, but a good-quality domestic Swiss is fine, as well.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Remove the giblet package from each of the birds. (Save the livers to sauté for another meal, and save the necks for making stock.) Rinse birds and dry them well. To butterfly the birds, cut along each side of the backbone with poultry shears or good all-purpose kitchen shears and remove the backbone. (Save it for making stock.) Sorry, that cute little tail has to go, too. Flatten the birds slightly and place them, breast side up, on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. (If you have a flat roasting rack place it on the lined pan and position the birds on the rack.)
2. Preheat broiler and set the broiling rack about 6 inches below it. (If oven is separate from your broiler, preheat oven to 375°F.) In a measuring cup, mix mustard, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread a little vegetable oil over the birds and place under the broiler until birds are lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread with the mustard mixture, dividing as evenly as possible; sprinkle with dry bread crumbs. Place birds back under the broiler just until the crumbs start to brown, about 1 minute. Remove the birds from the broiler.
4. Turn down oven to 375°F. Sprinkle birds with shredded cheese. Place them back in the oven and bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F when inserted in the thigh, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let the birds rest for about 5 minutes before placing on warm plates to serve.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis.