Cornish Hen with Cherry-Hazelnut Wine Sauce
When I first visited Portland, Oregon, I left with two regrets: that I didn’t plan on more days (so I could eat more) in that glorious food-obsessed city, and that I didn’t pack an extra duffel for all the edible stuff I wanted to carry back home. On that last point, I limited myself to dried sour cherries and dry-roasted hazelnuts. When I wasn’t scarfing them out of hand, I threw them into dishes, alone but often in combination, proving the validity of the saying, “If it grows together, it goes together.” For this dish, I turned the hazelnuts and dried cherries into a sauce that can be made with Mulled Wine Syrup (page 6) or Pinot Noir (another Oregon specialty) to pour over pan-fried Cornish hen. I like to cook it al mattone, which means “with a brick,” a quick method that results in even cooking, a crisp skin, and moist flesh.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Toast the hazelnuts in a small, dry skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until they are lightly browned and begin to smell toasty, 4 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully; nuts can burn quickly. Transfer to the folds of a clean dish towel to remove the skins while the nuts are still warm, then discard the skins and let the nuts cool. Coarsely chop the nuts.
Step 2
Using poultry shears or a very sharp knife, cut along each side of the hen’s backbone and remove it. Turn the hen over on your cutting board, splay it out butterfly-style, and press on the breastbone to break it. Sprinkle it with salt and allspice then rub the yogurt all over it.
Step 3
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Place the hen, meat side down, in the skillet and weight it down with a smaller skillet with a large can of tomatoes or other heavy object on top. (Or, do as I do, and use a heavy cast-iron bacon press, made for just this kind of thing.)
Step 4
Let the hen cook until the yogurt has formed a dark brown crust on the meat side, 5 to 10 minutes. Lift off the weight assembly, and use tongs to turn the hen over onto the bone side. Return the weights and cook until an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh and the breast reads at least 165°F, another 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil while you make the sauce.
Step 5
Pour the wine syrup into the skillet and use a spatula to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the dried cherries and hazelnuts, stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper to taste. (If you’re using wine instead of the syrup, pour it in, scrape up the browned bits from the pan, add the dried cherries and hazelnuts, then let the wine bubble and reduce by about half. Add the sugar to taste and continue reducing the sauce until it is thick and sticky, then season with salt and pepper to taste.)
Step 6
Remove the sauce from the heat, spoon the sauce over the hen, and eat.
