Cornish Hens with Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Hen with Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Recipe adapted from Meals for One or Two

It’s a perfect fall day here in northern California. The locust tree in my neighbor’s year is dropping golden leaves so poetically that I don’t mind them fluttering into my yard. It’s sunny, cool, and a bit breezy. Yellow and white chrysanthemums bloom in the garden. A pot of rustic applesauce bubbles on the stove. Thinking of my east coast friends, who are still cleaning up the aftermath of an unbelievably early snowstorm, I feel extremely lucky to have this beautiful day, not to mention power and lights. Best wishes to east coasters, may you be warm and lit again soon.

Apricot-Plum Stuffing for Apricot-Honey Glazed Hens

Apricot-Honey Glazed Hen with Apricot-Plum Stuffing

Recipe by Robin, inspired by Hawaii Kai Cookbook

Although you could choose to stuff something besides hens this, as I’d said in my Apricot Glazed Cornish Hens post, I wanted to create a stuffing for the hens with local California apricots, plums, and almonds. My first attempt was a success, largely due to some panko breadcrumbs that I happened to have on hand from a failed recipe. I’ve read that you can make your own panko crumbs by leaving a slice of white bread out overnight and crumbling it up the next day.

Apricot-Honey Glazed Cornish Hens

Roasted Glazed Hens and Sauce

Recipe by Robin, inspired by Hawaii Kai Cookbook

After I made Apricot Jam, I had an inspiration to make apricot-honey-glaze to bake on some Cornish hens I'd defrosted, so I looked for a recipe similar to my idea. After a thorough online search, found one in a surprising source, the Hawaii Kai Cookbook. This is a collection of  Hawaiian-inspired recipes prepared at New York City’s Hawaii Kai Restaurant, in the 1960s. While this retro cookbook is more of historical than practical culinary value these days, it does contain some recipe gems. [Read my Goodreads review]