| 1 | Calories per serving: 435°Fat grams per serving: 23 approx. cook time: cholesterol per serving: 105 remove giblets and necks from rock cornish hens; refrigerate to use in soup another day. |
| 2 | Rinse hens with running cold water; pat dry with paper towels. |
| 3 | Sprinkle inside body cavity with salt and pepper. |
| 4 | Fold neck skin to back; lift wings toward neck, then fold them under back of hen so they stay in place. |
| 5 | With string, tie legs and tail of each hen together. |
| 6 | Place hens, breast-side up, on rack in roasting pan. |
| 7 | In a cup, mix olive or salad oil, dried parsley flakes, dried thyme leaves, ?tsp. salt, and ?tsp. pepper; brush hens with oil mixture. |
| 8 | Roast hens in 350 degree oven about 1 ?hours, brushing hens occasionally with drippings in pan. |
| 9 | Hens are done when legs can be moved up and down easily or when fork is inserted between leg and body cavity and juices that escape are not pink. |
| 10 | Toward the end of roasting hens, in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, in hot margarine, cook carrots, brussel sprouts and ?tsp. salt until golden. |
| 11 | Add ?cup water; over high heat, heat to boiling. |
| 12 | Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 5 to 10 minutes until vegetables are tender-crisp, stirring occasionally; keep warm. |
| 13 | When hens are done, discard strings. |
| 14 | Place hens on warm large platter; keep warm. |
| 15 | For gravy, remove rack from roasting pan; pour pan drippings into 1-cup measure; let drippings stand a few seconds until fat deparates from meat juice. |
| 16 | Skim 2 tbsp. fat from drippings into 3-quart saucepan; skim and discard any remeining fat. |
| 17 | In saucepan over high heat, in hot fat, cook mushrooms until tender and golden, stirring occasionally. |
| 18 | Stir enough milk into meat juice to measuring to equal 1 cup; stir in flour, chicken bouillon and ?tsp salt until blended. |
| 19 | Add ?cup water to roasting pan; stir to loosen brown bits from bottom of pan. |
| 20 | Pour water and brown bits into mushrooms in saucepan. |
| 21 | Add meat-juice mixture; cook over high heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens slightly; boil 1 minute. |
| 22 | To serve, arrange vegetables on platter with cornish hens. |
| 23 | Garnish with parsley sprigs. |
| 24 | Serve with mushroom gravy |
