Cornish Game Hens, Wild Rice & Acorn Squash

On Wednesday night, I decided to make a fancy dinner. It was fancy in the sense that it felt very much like those silly dinners modern ladies would like to make in the 1980s for their husband and 2.5 children. I have always thought of cornish hens as fancy food of the 1980s, something women would whip together to really impress her husband’s business partners. When I found two cornish hens at Trader Joe’s from within a 500 mile radius, I jumped at the chance to try to whip up a quick dinner to impress ME, no one else.

I absolutely cannot take credit for this entire meal. I visited Whole Foods and found a yummy pre-made wild rice with walnuts and cranberries. That saved me about 60 minutes of cooking time – 60 minutes I devoted to whipping up some Gingerbread Cookies (dough in the fridge now) and Sicilian Pistachio Bars (which are heavenly!)

I stuffed the hens with the wild rice, dried rosemary from my garden, salt and pepper. They cooked for about an hour in a 325 degree convection oven. I basted twice with a mixture of apricot jam and orange juice, which I had cooked down into a syrup on the stove.

The acorn squash is from my winter CSA at Green Meadows Farm. All I did was roast this in the oven with olive, salt and pepper for about 45-60 minutes, until a fork pieced the flesh easily. It was so sweet and filling.