Guinea Hen Breast Chanterelles And Polenta Recipes

ROAST GUINEA HEN

Steps:

• Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place the guinea hen in a large, deep bowl, pour the marinade over and inside the hen, cover the bowl, and marinate, refrigerated, overnight, turning occasionally to ensure that all parts of the bird are covered.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the hen from the marinade. Reserve the marinade. Put the hen in a roasting pan and brush with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Turn the hen breastside down in the pan and roast for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the hen onto its back, decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees, and roast for 1 hour. While the hen is roasting, place the reserved marinade in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and reduce to approximately 1/4 cup. When the hen has 15 minutes left to cook, pour the reduced marinade over the hen and return it to the oven for its final 15 minutes of cooking. Remove from the oven, and let the hen rest for 10 or 15 minutes before dividing into serving portions.

ROASTED GUINEA HENS WITH WHOLE-GRAIN MUSTARD AND HERBS

Steps:

• Cook garlic and potatoes:
• Fill a 3-quart saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add garlic and simmer 5 minutes. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add potatoes to water with bay leaf and salt to taste, then simmer, covered, 10 minutes (potatoes will not be fully cooked). Cool potatoes in hot water, uncovered, then drain and peel.
• Make mustard butter and prepare hens while potatoes are cooling:
• Put a 17- by 11-inch roasting pan in middle of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter and set aside. Mash together mustard, chives, remaining 5 tablespoons butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 1 tablespoon mustard butter for sauce.
• Remove excess fat from cavities and necks, then rinse hens and pat dry. Run your finger between skin and flesh of breast and legs of each hen to loosen skin (outsides of thighs are easier to access from neck end). Push mustard butter under skin and massage skin from outside to spread butter evenly over breast and legs. Season hens inside and out with salt and pepper and put half of herb stems in cavity of each bird. Tie legs together with kitchen string and close cavity with toothpicks.
• Brush melted butter over hens.
• Roast hens:
• Remove roasting pan from oven and add oil, tilting to coat. Put hens in pan, breast sides up, and scatter potatoes and shallots around them. Roast hens, basting every 10 minutes with a brush and turning vegetables, 30 minutes. Scatter reserved garlic and thyme leaves around hens and roast, basting frequently and turning vegetables, until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (without touching bone) registers 170°F and vegetables are tender, 20 to 30 minutes more (30 to 40 minutes more for chickens). Discard string and toothpicks from hens and transfer hens to a platter. Surround with vegetables and keep warm, loosely covered, while making sauce.
• Make sauce:
• Skim fat from pan juices and add chicken broth, then deglaze by boiling, scraping up brown bits, until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour sauce through a sieve into a sauceboat and stir in reserved tablespoon mustard butter with salt and pepper to taste.
• Chop tarragon and parsley leaves and scatter over hens and vegetables. Serve with sauce.

GRILLED POLENTA WITH CHANTERELLES

Steps:

• Make the polenta according to the directions on the package. When it is cooked pour it into a pan about eight inches square and cool.
• When the polenta has cooled, cut it into eight slices about two inches wide and four inches long. Brush the polenta on both sides with one tablespoon olive oil and place the slices on an oiled broiling rack. Set aside.
• Cut the base off the stems of the chanterelles. If the mushrooms are very gritty, rinse them quickly under cold running water and pat them dry. Otherwise, clean them with a soft paint or pastry brush. Cut the large mushrooms into bite-size pieces; leave the smaller ones whole.
• Preheat broiler. In a skillet, soften the garlic with the shallots in the remaining olive oil. Add the mushrooms, season to taste with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Stir in the thyme and parsley and keep warm.
• Grill the polenta for three to four minutes on each side, until golden.
• Arrange the polenta pieces on four serving plates and top them with the mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

CHICKEN WITH CHANTERELLE MUSHROOMS AND MARSALA WINE

Steps:

• Stir flour and paprika together in a shallow dish. Remove and set aside 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture for later use. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture to coat evenly.
• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir chanterelle mushrooms in melted butter until they release their liquid and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.
• Melt 4 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Cook the chicken breasts in the melted butter until browned, about 3 minutes per side; season with salt and pepper.
• Return the cooked mushrooms to the skillet and stir in chicken broth, reserved 1 tablespoon of flour-paprika mixture, Marsala wine, and dried tarragon. Place a cover on the skillet, reduce heat to low, and cook until the sauce is thick, the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear, about 20 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a chicken breast should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).