The two weeks before this one were tough ones health-wise for my family. My daughter was sick twice and missed quite a few days of school, and I was sick in between her two bouts. We are finally all healthy this week and I cooked both last week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Deconstructed BLT and Eggs, and this week’s, Olive-Olive Cornish Hens.
Deconstructed BLT and Eggs
We’ll start with the salad. I had told my husband earlier in the day that we were having something “deconstructed” for dinner. When I served it to him I asked him to guess what deconstructed thing it was. I gave him the hint that the eggs were an addition, but then he correctly guessed “BLT”. This salad was a great way to enjoy some of our garden tomatoes. The flavors and textures of the salad worked really nicely together. My favorite bites were those that combined each of the elements of a BLT. The hard-boiled eggs were an excellent addition and elevated the salad to main-dish status. A winner!
I have always loved Cornish game hens. When I was a kid I loved having my very own whole chicken on my plate. As an adult, I guess there is still a part of me that enjoys having my own chicken, but I mostly like them for the flavor. So I was very excited to try the Olive-Olive Cornish Hens.
Olive-Olive Cornish Hens
I liked how quick and easy these were to make. The high oven temperature and the fact that the hens are butterflied lets them cook in about a half hour. The result is juicy meat and a nice, crispy, browned skin. While I enjoyed the flavor of these birds, I was disappointed that the flavor of the olive tapenade spread under the skin did not come through. We couldn’t taste it at all. Perhaps the tapenade I used has a milder flavor that the one Dorie uses? I would definitely use more next time.
The hens were served with Twice-Baked Potatoes using Yukon Golds from the garden, and steamed green beans, also from the garden. All in all, a lovely meal!
From Scratch 
I would definitely try the game hens with a more potent tepenade to add more flavor, it sounds really good. I’ll bet those potatoes were good with it, too!
The salad looks so pretty!
I hope everyone is feeling better!
Everything looks just tasty.
I am so sorry to hear that you and your daughter have been sick, Karen. I hope you both are back to feeling better again and it’s so good to have you back posting. Your salad looks so good and must have been so tasty with your garden tomatoes. Your cornish hen is perfectly browned! I hope you have a lovely weekend!
I hope everyone is healthy again this week. I’m so jealous that you still have garden tomatoes to enjoy, Karen. The double-baked (homegrown) potato looks like a treat to accompany your Cornish hens. Nice post!
Happy to hear that you are feeling well enough to cook again. No fun at all when the whole family is sick. Love your side, I haven’t made twice baked potatoes in forever and now your photo has me craving them. Yummy.
Looks beautiful! I agree about the amount of tapenade, but I LOVE olives.
I’m happy to hear everyone’s feeling better. Your double-whammy post looks fantastic. I definitely used more tapenade than what the recipe called for.
I used olives in brine and it made the tapenade overwhelming in flavor… I first ate the hens in Vegas at the Roundtable Knight show and fell in love,… I think there is a little love affair with eating a small, whole bird by yourself and without any silverware! 🙂 Either which way, I do enjoy making a game hen when I get the chance and fresh, not frozen when it is available.
Hope you and your daughter are feeling better. You did a great job with your meal. I am so jealous that you grow potatoes. I really enjoyed the game hens..but still have not posted about them. Looks like I need to play catch up!
I’m glad your family is feeling better. You did a great job on both dishes. We really liked them, too.