It was a most productive Saturday: I took care of the dog, got my haircut (so I don't look like Edgar Winter http://www.edgarwinter.com/home.php), did a thorough cleaning of the house from beam to beam, did four loads of laundry, washed my car by hand, took a beautiful walk along Euclid Creek in the falling afternoon light, and spatchcocked two Cornish Hens.
Pardon me? Don't worry...I'll get to it!
I needed the afternoon walk. I woke up too early and a little bit cranky and the best medicine for moods like that, I've found, is just to fly straight into workhorse mode. You have no time to focus on your sour disposition and you tire yourself out so you are sure to NOT awaken too early the following day. So I decided to get everything I needed to do over the entire weekend done on one Saturday. But by the time I had finished my self-imposed chores, I realized the sky was a gorgeous blue and the day was meant to be enjoyed, so I high-tailed it to the Metroparks.
Speaking of moods...I love the ever-changing moods of Euclid Creek. Sometimes the water is high and dangerous. Sometimes, it slows to a trickle. Sometimes the scenery is nothing short of majestic. Sometimes the light is flat and it's not much more than a painted backdrop. On New Years Day, the water in the creek was the lovliest silver-green color that looked gorgeous against the mounds of fresh, white snow. It never gets old.
Completely relaxed from my afternoon trek and sense of accomplishment from my finished chores, it was time to start dinner. I had this fantasy that I was going to completely de-bone and butterfly some little Cornish Hens like a pro. But after working hard all day, I was too lazy to retrieve my good boning knife from where I keep my work equipment, and the dumb utility knife I use at home was too clumsy to bone a difficult, little bird. Plus, I admit my cutting skills are better on bigger subjects . Despite the charming tutorial by Julie Powell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNeQ8Gb2hg&feature=related), the woman behind the inspiration for the "Julie and Julia" movie, there was no way, especially after my post-walk glass of white wine, that those Cornish Hens were going to be fully de-boned AND attractive enough to serve. So I wimped out and spatchcocked the birds.
"Spatchcock" is a really awkward word for flattening a bird (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/spatchdef.htm). You remove the backbone and breastbone (but leave in the leg and wing bones), so that you can spread out the poultry and shorten the cooking time. It's a good option if you ever want to grill a whole chicken or turkey and don't want it to take all night to cook.
It really was a great time-saver. I roasted my little hens in just over half the time it would take to roast them whole. And in the last 7 minutes, I cranked the heat, coated them in a port wine reduction sauce, and added some scallions and apricots. Nevermind that mi esposo wasn't sure if the sauce was a trumped-up barbeque, I found it to be perfectly elegant.
So, after a seriously busy day, I was able to put together a really nice little dinner in no time flat...because the birds were ...flat, that is.
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I love this method. You can actually buy birds of all sorts in spatchcocked position if you will....right off the shelf in my local grocery store, Waitrose. Check it out on line, Karen. I used to get their food magazine by subscription in NY. I paid a fortune for it! Turns out, it is a grocery store magazine and it costs £1.00 over here! It is a bit higher end, but they also have a their own cheaper store brand as well. I was in heaven when i discovered it. You would be gobsmacked at all the great cooks ingredients right there at your finger tips.
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