Random Cougar Life

I totally forgot to update with the gravey recipe!! I hope this is posted in time to help everyone who needs it.

fill a small pot with chicken/turkey broth, season with summer savory, celery seed, tumeric, celery salt. Do not use any other salt, just celery salt. Also add black pepper, white pepper (if available) and garlic powder. 

giblets (internal organs and necks) dice everything very small, except any necks, and place in pot.

celery, chop celery and place in pot.

thicken gravey 1 tsp flour at a time 

also, if your cooking vegetable dishes, add a small bit of a vegetable from one or two dishes. EXAMPLE I’m going to be cooking asparagus, so after triming the spears i use any leftover grean parts, not the tough, white root, but the softer  leftover bits.

Sorry its so short and not very thorough, I have to get in bed so I can work in the morning. Hope its helpful!

[I don't have time to add the gravy etc. right now, I'll add it later]

I have been meaning to post this for a while, as I was gonna give April a recipe for stuffing. I finally got around to it, whee. These recipes will be much neater that the stew recipe, since that was mostly a throw your leftovers into a pot and let simmer deal. The ingredients purchased for the stuffing is more than you will use, so I have made this a sort of “set”. When I make these dishes I tie in the flavors to my other dishes (the difference between a good meal and a great one). So if you are making a whole meal, this will give you a stuffing (which can be used as a rice dish instead of a stuffing), a marinade for your meat dish, and a dressing for a salad.

What order should you cook these in? I recommend preparing your meat dish first(in this case 2 cornish game hens) and get it started, then work on the rice, and very lastly do the dressing.

Ingredients? Just to clarify, the ingredients purchased for the wild rice stuffing are the same ingredients used in the dressing and marinade. Reserve all your liquids!

Liscensing rights. This recipe is not to be published or sold for any amount of money. This recipe is the property of one the owner of this blog, Jessy-Ni and is only to be used for personal cooking or charities. Anyone can print as many copies of this recipe as they wish for their own personal use, or for distributing free of charge, as long as it is credited to the author. This recipe maybe linked to but is not to be copied onto any other webpage, unless it is so posted by the author of this recipe.

Wild Rice Stuffing With Peaches and Blackberries - Makes enough for two cornish game hens (For Turkey: One recipe is good for 5lbs of turkey, double as needed for each extra 5lbs of your turkey)

Ingredients

• 2 packages of wild rice (any brand is fine)
• 1 jar of peaches (or two cans or three fresh peaches)
• 1 large bag of frozen blackberries (or 3 containers fresh blackberries)
• pine nuts to taste

Preperation and Cooking

1. Set out frozen blackberries to thaw.
2. Cook all wild rice according to instructions (if cooking for a turkey, don’t overflow your pan! Cook exactly enough for your pan size and allow time for all of the rice to cook).
3. Once wild rice is done add 3/4 jar of peaches (or two fresh peaches, or 1 and (1/2) canned peaches) and 2 cups blackberries (frozen or fresh) to the rice. Pour out 1/4 cups of the thawed blackberry juice from the bag (If not enough juice, or using fresh blackberries, then press a handful of blackberries into a mush like consistency and mix with the juice) and add 1 tablespoon of peach syrup (if using canned peaches taste juice and see if it is too salty. If it is too salty, or if using fresh peaches, then mix 1 tablespoon honey instead).
4. Mix thoroughly (preferably with your hands, if you or whoever your fixing this for has issues with germs, then use plastic gloves to mix. Don’t use naturally derived latex, as it is an allergen. Click here for more information). When done the stuffing should have a homogenous mix of peaches, berries, and rice.
5. Add pine nuts to taste and mix in.

Blackberry Peach Vinegarette – Makes 2 cups of dressing

Ingredients

1. 1 (1/4) cups extra virgin olive oil
2. (1/2) cup baslamic vinegar
3. (1/4) cup frozen blackberries
4. 1 tablespoon peach syrup

Preperation

1. Combine all ingredients in a tightly sealed jar. Shake very vigorously, until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
2. Sample dressing and if not sweet enough add 1 teaspoon peach syrup, shake again, and taste. Repeat until dressing has desired sweetness.
3. Once dressing is at desired sweetness, refrigerate until cold.
4. Serve chilled. If desired sprinkle salad with pine nuts and a few blackberries or peach slices.

Peach and Blackberry Cornish Game Hens – Serves 4-5 people (if scaling this up for a turkey don’t fill anything into the body cavity during those steps, just syrup) (And for Pete’s sake don’t put your stuffing inside until the bird is done cooking!)

Ingredients

• 2 cornish game hens
• 2 handfuls of blackberries
• remaining peaches
• reserved peach syrup
• summer savory
• celery salt
• pulped celery (optional)

Preperations and Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
2. (optional step) Take (1/2) celery stalk and turn it into a pulp, either grate it or put it through a food processor.
3. Wash thoroughly your cornish game hens and check inside their body cavity for any gizards, hearts, etc. Remove everything from the body cavity and rinse it out very thoroughly. Your hens may or may not have come already “tied up”, usually the twine is wrapped around the chest and easy to release the tension from without cutting. If no twine has been provided don’t worry, cornish game hens are much smaller than turkey and will keep moist untied with only a little bit more attention.
4. Once hens are rinsed, prepare to season them by placing them over a bowl or cutting board. One hen at a time. Sprinkle over the top enough summer savory to give it a fine dusting. Sprinkle just a few dashes of celery salt and cover with half the celery pulp (optional).
5. Rub the seasonings into the cornish game hen, using your hands. You want to massage the hen to get the the seasonings deep, past the skin and into the muscle. You should do this for about five minutes to ten minutes. When your done, both the top (back) and bottom (chest) of the hen should be evenly coated and of a uniform color. Check the wings and legs to make sure they don’t have too much seasoning on them. If you used the celery pulp and have an excess of seasonings, remove the excess from the first hen and place it on the second hen. Repeat the seasoning and rubbing process on the second hen, making sure that seasoning is evenly distributed.
6. Place the cornish game hen so that the body cavity opening is facing upward, pour in two tablespoons of peach syrup and ensure the spine is coated with it by placing it on its back and rubbing the inside of the body cavity thoroughly (if you can’t rub the inside of the body cavity place it on its back and let sit for 5 minutes). This helps prevent the meat from drying out during cooking. Repeat for the second cornish game hen.
7. Again taking the cornish game hen and placing the body cavity opening upwards, stuff a handful of blackberries inside. Repeat for the second cornish game hen.
8. Place in a basting dish and place in oven to cook. Keep unused syrup to the side, or in the refrigerator.
9. [If not tied, or very moist hens are desired] Check every 15 minutes and baste fresh syrup on top of the hens for 1 hour. Then, check back every 30 minutes until done. Basting as needed from the already present syrup (cooking time varies significantly depending on your own personal oven, check the owners manual for specific times) [If tied, or if less moist hens are desired] Check every 30 minutes, basting as needed. At least adding syrup during basting two to three times, then using existing syrup.
10. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve over wild rice stuffing, garnish with reserved peaches.