Cornish hens- Your own personalized chickens!

So cute! I made a couple of cornish hens - they are too cute! They turned out great

Using the Roasted Cornish Hen recipe from Down Home With the Neelys, the recipe was a simple rub of poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, dried basil and

olive oil - that's it!

I roasted the hens for just over an hour at 375 and they were juicy and the skin was delicious!

I put a little too much oil because the skin wasn't as brown as I would have liked - next time.

How cute would cooking a bunch of these be for a holiday dinner? Everyone gets their own personalized chicken!

Roast Chicken

This is one of my favorite recipes! I saw it on a Martha Stewart DVD and had to make it. This is pretty much a guaranteed winner every time!

The original recipe is from Norma Darden of Miss Mamie's Spoonbread in NYC and was shown on Martha Stewart's DVD.

The only difference from the ingredients is that I basted the chicken with an entire bottle of white wine and threw in some onions at the bottom of the pan for flavor.

I served the chicken with roasted red potatoes in rosemary and thyme.

Chicken Milanese with Caramelized Fennel, Tomato and Arugula

Sharl felt like schnitzel tonight, so I decided to make this version I saw on Everyday Italian to the best of my memory.

I LOVE fennel. I think it's such an underused vegetable. It's got a texture sort of like celery and when it's cooked, the licorice flavour mellows out beautifully. If you haven't tried it before...this is the recipe to use!

Ingredients

2 chicken cutlets

Flour for dredging

1 egg lightly beaten

breadcrumbs

Parmesan cheese

1 fennel bulb (fronds and outer layer removed and thinly sliced)

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 clove garlic minced

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 generous handfuls of baby arugula

Directions

Dredge cutlets in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese.

Fry cutlets in a hot pan with oil until golden brown on both sides and chicken is cooked through (about 3-4 minutes per side). Set aside to drain on paper towels.

Add sliced fennel and garlic to pan. Sauté until caramelized and tender. Add tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and continue to sauté until tomatoes burst and balsamic vinegar is reduced.

Serve chicken over a bed of arugula and spoon fennel & tomato sauce on top.

Moroccan Chicken with Apple Cranberry Couscous

Yesterday I just couldn't decide what to make for dinner. All of my go to dishes felt boring. I didn't want rice or pasta or potatoes...I wanted to try a new starch that I usually never eat, so I thought I'd give couscous a try. I've had it before but have never made it at home. It was so easy! I decided to look up the spices used in Moroccan food and try out my own rendition of Moroccan food at home. Here's what I came up with!

Ingredients

Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground corriander

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp honey

salt and pepper

Couscous

1 tsp butter

3 green onions sliced

1 macintosh apple diced

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp red onion diced

handful cranberries

2/3 cup couscous

1/3 cup boiling water

1/3 cup orange juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

salt & pepper

Directions

Combine cinnamon, cumin, corriander, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper in a bowl and coat chicken. Grill until cooked through (about 7-8 minutes per side)

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan and sauté apples, green onions, cinnamon and curry powder until the spices are fragrant and apples have softened slightly.
Stir in red onion and cranberries and couscous.
Stir in orange juice and boiling water and cover pot for 5 minutes.

Once the couscous has absorbed the liquid, fluff it up with a fork and mix in olive oil, honey, salt and pepper.

Serve alongside grilled chicken and vegetable of choice.

Oven fried chicken

Wow! This was one AWESOME oven "fried" chicken recipe and made fantastic leftovers.

This is Aida's recipe. You can get to the recipe by clicking on this post's title.