Indonesian Ginger Cornish Hen

After I decided to make the roasted carrots, I realized I needed a meat to eat along with it.  I googled "roasted carrots and" to see if a side dish would pop up, but I'm not sure google got the point.

It did however direct me to an Ina Garten roasted carrots recipe so I figured I would see what else she made on that episode of Barefoot Contessa.  It just so happened to be a recipe I had been eying for a long time...

I couldn't find a chicken small enough to make for just little old me so I decided to replace the chicken with a cornish hen.  I'm a chicken (pun intended) so I had my butcher quarter the little guy for me. He didn't do a great job removing the back, but other than that it worked out!

The hen was so yummy - especially with the roasted carrots!

Indonesian Ginger Cornish Hen
adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients  

• 1/3 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce  
• 3 cloves minced garlic  
• 2 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger root (a lot of my ginger root wasn't looking good so I substituted some with ginger powder)  
• 2 pounds cornish hen, quartered, with backs removed

Directions

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the cornish hen in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate 6 hours to overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the hen skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.