One Hungry Mother Clucker

Sometimes you have to make a good meal. Sometimes that meal happens to be by yourself. Why ruin a great opportunity for gourmet cooking with a burger and fries? Let's have the staple of all healthy diets... Chicken!

But, it's too much food, you say? It will all go to waste, you say? go with a Rock Cornish game hen! with only 1 pound net weight of good quality chicken, and the ease of the oven, you can't go wrong! Plus, it gives you the advantage of being able to get your hands and face covered in chicken grease without having to worry about not looking like a slob in front of your significant other! I made the mistake of thinking of Blogging this after I devoured it, so I don't have a picture. I was caveman hungry, so forgive this one. I stole a pic from somewhere else.
Now, It may sound gross to some with a name with "game" and "hen" in there, but it actually has no bearing on the meat. It's just a chicken folks. It happens to be an all white meat chicken. The USDA defines a Rock Cornish game hen as:

"...a young immature chicken (usually 5 to 6 weeks of age), weighing not more than
2 pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken."

It's an awesomely delicious little bundle of awesome. Basically a woman by the name of Te Makowsky bred together the Cornish game cock with several other species of chicken including the Plymouth Rock chicken and the Malayn fighting cock to create the stumpy little meat bombs that PETA enthusiasts love to hate. The term "hen" requires the chicken to be harvested under 2 pounds, usually at 4 to 6 weeks of age. This makes for a moist, tender little mother clucker. You can buy them in any grocery store, and if you do have a party you can prepare one for each guest. I prefer to buy them when I am on shift, and I can cook more with less.



Here is a recipe that is damn near sailor proof -- The hardest part is waiting for it to cool down!

Ingredients:
1 Rock Cornish game hen
1 medium size Lemon
6 cloves fresh garlic
1 TBS Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After your Rock Cornish game hen(RCGH) has thawed, remove it from the packaging and rinse under cold water inside and out. Peelthe Garlic, but leave whole. Halve a lemon -- with one half to be sliced, and one to be wedged. Set aside one wedge for juice. Stuff cavity of RCGH with garlic and lemon wedges. Now set bird in a small dish with substantial sides to hold onto juices. Here is the trick: Make sure to place the bird BREAST SIDE DOWN to preserve the juice in the dryer meat. You'll thank me later. Coat the topside of bird in EVOO, and rub in Tony Chachere's. Squeeze juice of the reserved lemon over the bird, and place lemon slices along the outside of the bird or under the wings. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes for a 16 oz bird, or 1 hour 30 minutes for larger.

Try not to burn your hands as you tear into this one.