Island Entertaining

ROASTED CORNING GAME HENS WITH ORANGE SAGE BUTTER

Ingredients 4 Tbs. butter, softened 2 Tbs. fresh sage 1 Tbs. orange zest Juice from 1 orange 2 Cornish game hens Salt and pepper

a Thanksgiving for two Dinnery

BY KAREN MILLER

EKATERINA KHOROSHILOVA Preparation Mix butter, sage, and orange zest together. Form into a log, wrap in plastic, and store in the fridge until ready to cook the hens. Clean and prep the hens, removing any giblets. Loosen the skin covering the breast meat on each hen by slipping your fi ngers under the skin and sliding them between the skin and the meat. Using 1 Tbs. butter mixture for each hen, insert it under the skin and smooth it evenly by rubbing the outside of the skin, and season the hens with salt and pepper. Tie each hen’s legs together with kitchen string.

In a small roasting pan, heat the remaining butter until melted and set each hen in the pan. If you have extra oranges, you can slice them up and lay them in the pan with the hens. Roast in a 450-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees. Remove string, and serve each hen on a plate of rice or wild rice pilaf, then drizzle with the pan juices.

JACOB’S MINI PUMPKIN CHEESECAKES

Ingredients 8 oz. softened cream cheese 1 cup pumpkin puree 1/3 cup white sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 tsp. each cinnamon and ginger 1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 4 Tbs. melted butter 2 Tbs. brown sugar 1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation Mix fi rst 7 ingredients in a stand mixer until well combined. In a small bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, butter, brown sugar, and salt. Spoon a heaping tablespoon-and-a-half into standard-size muffi n tins lined with paper foil muffi n liners. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or your fi ngers to press mixture evenly into bottoms of liners. Bake crusts at 350 degrees just until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.

Pour cheesecake batter over muffi n liners, fi lling about three-quarters full. Bake at 350 degrees until cheesecake is set, about 12 minutes. Let cool, and store in the fridge until serving time. Extra mini cheesecakes can me frozen for future holiday dinners! Makes 12.

This year, my husband, Troy, and I are staying home for Th anksgiving to avoid the stress of travel and all the other hoopla that goes with the holidays. In the past, I would still have bought a turkey, spent two days baking and cooking, then the next week eating the endless leftovers. But this year, we’re cooking Cornish game hens and keeping our Th anksgiving menu simple.

Our menu consists of roasted Corning game hens with orange sage butter, wild rice pilaf, raw cranberry relish, and green bean salad. And our sweet fi nish will be mini pumpkin cheesecakes, a special recipe given to me by my son, Jacob.

Cornish game hens are known for their tender meat, which is easily able to absorb marinades and spices. Weighing one to two pounds each, they cook quickly in the oven, usually in 30-35 minutes. Additional orange sage butter s a nice sauce for drizzling over the hens right before serving.

Feel free to serve this dinner any time during the holiday season! It’s inexpensive and easy to make, with minimal clean-up.

Happy Th anksgiving, y’all!