Cornish Hen with Artichoke and Olive Dressing

Roasted poultry atop stale bread allows the poultry fats to infuse the bread as it cooks, providing you with an excelenty paired crouton perfect for an accompanying salad. This recipe uses the same concept but uses the bread as a dressing to serve alongside the Cornish Hens instead of as croutons in a salad. Either way, you can pretty much forget about the poultry because the bread is the star of the show.

Yield:

Serves four

Ingredients

1. 2 Cornish Game Hens
2. 4 tablespoons butter
3. 1 teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
4. 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
5. 4 cups of stale crusty bread cut into ½ inch cubes
6. 1/4 cup of assorted Greek olives, coarsely chopped
7. 1/2 cup Gouda cheese, shredded
8. 2/3 cup canned artichokes, roughly chopped
9. Salt and pepper
10. Olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. In a small bowl, combine butter, Dijon, and thyme
3. Place 1 tablespoon of the butter mixture underneath the skin of each of the birds and the rest on the outside of the birds
4. Season the cavity and outside of the birds with salt and pepper
5. In a medium bowl, combine bread, olives, artichokes, cheese, thyme, and a pinch of pepper
6. Lightly grease a cast iron skillet with olive oil
7. Place the bread mixture in the bottom of the skillet
8. Place the Cornish hens on top of the bread mixture
9. Cook the birds for 1 hour or until they reach 160° F in the thickest part of the thigh

Notes