Game Hens Stuffed with Sausage, Fennel, and Mushrooms

I really like game hens.  If not overcooked, they make an elegant presentation, and the flavors in this recipe will certainly increase your enjoyment of this small bird.  Fresh fennel in poultry stuffing may become habit for you. 

The Stuffing:

½ lb mild Italian sausage

2T olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup peeled and chopped yellow onion

2 ½ cups julienned fresh fennel bulb

¼ lb mushroom, sliced

2T chopped parsley

¾ cup bread crumbs

½ cp chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

Eight average birds

Brown the sausage until crumbly.  Drain and discard the fat.  Combine the sausage with the rest of the stuffing ingredients.  Rub the hens with crushed garlic, oil, salt and pepper, and paprika, then stuff.  Roast at 350° in the center of the oven for one hour and 15 minutes max.  Allow to stand five minutes.  Split in half and serve.  Serves 4 to 8 depending upon appetite.  Virtually any wine could do well which complements poultry such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, or a medium bodied Bordeaux, Cotes du Rhone, or Chianti.

Cedar Plank Salmon

One 2lb salmon fillet, skin on

One cedar plank soaked in water minimum 30 minutes

½ cub brown sugar

2T canola oil

1T dried thyme leaves

1 t cayenne pepper

Preheat a gas grill to high; adjust to medium low after 15 minutes.  (If cooking over charcoal, allow the coals to burn until they are covered with white ash)   Place the salmon skin-side down on the cedar plank.  Combine the brown sugar, oil, thyme and cayenne in a bowl.  Spread over the salmon (as a rub).  Place the planked salmon on the grilling grate and cool with grill covered, about 15 minutes or just until the surface fat begins to turn white.  Inside: preheat oven to 325°.  Prepare the salmon as described above, then roast on the cedar plank for about 25 minutes.  Divide to size.  I like this with a Riesling kabinett from the Rhine or Mosel.  If you like a little more flavor try a spätlese.  But other choices are a white Burgundy or a young and light pinot noir. 

Apple Clafouti

Batter:

½ cup unbleached flour

1/3 cup plus 2 t sugar

¼ t ground cinnamon

Salt

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1 cup milk

Apples:

1.4 vanilla bean, split long side

2T unsalted butter

1½ cups peeled & diced Granny Smith apple with ½ “ dice

2T sugar

1 t fruit brandy, your choice flavor

2T confectioner’s sugar

1/3 cup crème fraîche

Preheat over to 400°.  To make the batter: sift, flour, sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and milk until well blended.  Add about 1/3 of the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk to form a paste, then gradually incorporate the remaining egg mixture.  Whisk until well blended.  Cook the apples: with the tip of a knife, scrape the vanilla bean seeds from the pod into an ovenproof medium cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet.  Add the pod and the batter and cook over moderately high heat until the butter turns nut brown.  Add the apple and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes to soften it.  Remove the vanilla bean pod and discard.  Sprinkle the apple with sugar, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the apple is ¾ done and the sugar has melted and is a light syrup.  Add the brandy, swirl the skillet briefly, then spread the fruit evenly in the skillet.  Remove the skillet from heat.  Quickly pour the batter through  a sieve evenly over fruit.  Bake until the edges are puffed and browned and the center is set, about 15 min.  Remove and dust with confectioners sugar.  Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche. 

This is versatile enough to serve for breakfast, tea, or dinner, and suited to a wide variety of fruits.  Cherries, plums, and other stoned fruits work well.    It looks best served directly from the oven, while it’s puffy and light.  It can be served at room temperature, but will settle as it cools.  For complementary sweetness a Mosel Riesling spätelese would do nicely as would a sweet vouvray or sauterne.