| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 4 hr 40 min |
| Active: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 Cornish hens, flattened
- Kosher salt
- 1/3 cup good olive oil
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon, halved
- Fleur de sel, for serving
Instructions
- Sprinkle the Cornish hens with 1 teaspoon salt on each side.
- Combine the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a ceramic or glass dish just large enough to hold the flattened hens. Add the hens, and turn to coat. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, turning once or twice.
- When ready to grill, prepare a hot charcoal fire on one side of a grill (or turn a gas grill on low heat). Spread 1/4 of the coals across the other side of the grill. Place the hens on the cooler side skin-side up and weigh them down with a gratin dish with a foil-wrapped brick inside.
- Cook for 12 minutes, until the underside is golden brown. Turn the hens skin-side down, weigh them down again, and cook for another 12 minutes until the skin is golden brown and the hens are cooked through.
- Place the lemon halves on the cool side of the grill, cut-side down, for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove the Cornish hens and lemons to a plate or cutting board, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Cut the hens in half, sprinkle with fleur de sel, and serve with the grilled lemon halves.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 512 |
| Total Fat | 42 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 5 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 170 mg |
| Sodium | 539 mg |
Reviews
Easy and delicious!
I marinated these overnight. The flavor really permeated through the chicken!
If you do not have an outside grill this dish can be made in the oven with/without a cast iron pan. Take a look at Ina’s split chicken recipe. The cornish hen recipe is a take-off of the Split chicken in a skillet recipe. I don’t have an outside grill, live in an apt., and used the chicken cooking recipe as a format and it worked fine. 30 minutes at 450 in the oven and it was done to perfection and juicy.
Looks awesome!
LOVED this and did as directed not that much work and especially right before dinner! I will make this again soon!
These were definitely good, but they were a lot of work. I think they turn out just as well baking them whole, stuffed with lemons, garlic and thyme and coated with melted butter, salt and pepper.
No grill, any idea for oven roast temp and time?
This is absolutely delicious and full of flavor.
These were great
I saw this recipe on her show and I had to try it. Let me just say that that I will be making this again! my family absolutely loved it!