Cornish Hens with Merlot Glaze

Serves 4 as an entree

Level of difficulty: Easy

This is such an easy recipe and the herbs and raspberry bring out the red fruit and herb notes in our Merlot!

Ingredients:
4 Cornish hens
Salt and pepper to taste
8 whole cloves garlic
8 rosemary sprigs
8 thyme sprigs

Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup raspberry jam
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Goosecross Merlot


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash Cornish hens thoroughly and pat dry. Season the chickens all over and in the cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff each chicken with 2 garlic cloves, and 2 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme. Set the chickens in a large roasting pan.

In a medium saucepan, bring the glaze ingredients to a boil and reduce. Baste the chickens with the glaze. Roast the chicken for about 1 1/4 hours, basting twice while cooking, until an instant-read thermometer reaches 165 degrees when inserted into the thigh. Let the chickens rest 10 minutes before carving.

This recipe was created by Colleen Topper, Proprietor and in-house chef for Goosecross Cellars in the Napa Valley. For more delicious recipes, paired with wine go to wineryrecipes.com.

Complementary Wines: Bandol, Merlot

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