Cornish Games Hens With Mustard Cream & Mushrooms

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 rock cornish game hens, thawed if frozen
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 3/4 lb fresh large mushroom
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard

Recipe

• 1 remove giblets from hens and discard or reserve for another use.
• 2 cut hens in half, removing the backbone (discard); sprinkle halves with salt and pepper and place, skin side down, about an inch apart in a shallow roasting pan.
• 3 in a small bowl, combine butter and dry mustard, stirring until well blended.
• 4 bake birds in a 400°oven for 30 minutes, basting with mustard-butter mixture, using it all; turn hen halves skin side up and add mushrooms, turning them in the drippings; return birds to the oven and bake for 30-40 more minutes or until hen halves are golden brown and meat near thighbone is no longer pink when slashed; baste hen halves and mushrooms several times with pan drippings.
• 5 arrange hen halves and mushrooms in a serving dish; keep warm.
• 6 stir 1/2 cup of the milk into pan drippings, scraping browned bits free.
• 7 in a pan, blend flour with remaining 1/2 cup milk until smooth; gradually stir in pan drippings; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens; stir in dijon mustard.
• 8 pour sauce into a bowl and pass at the table to spoon over individual servings.