Tricolor Quinoa-Stuffed Cornish Hens

Mouthwatering Cornish hens stuffed with tricolor quinoa make a filling tasty dinner on any day of the week.

This recipe was adapted from Food and Wine Couscous-Stuffed Cornish Hens website. I have tweaked original recipe to make it gluten and guilt free.

Ingredients:

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of water

½ a cup of homemade or store bought chicken broth

½ of a cup of slivered almonds

Salt to taste

1 tablespoons of butter or ghee

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of orange juice

1 teaspoon of herbs de Provence

2 Cornish hens

Directions:

In a saucepan bring water to boil, add quinoa and salt. Cook quinoa over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Lower the heat and cover quinoa with sauce pan cover.  Let quinoa cook until most water is gone, this should take about10 minutes. Once quinoa is almost cooked and some water is still in saucepan, add ½ of tablespoon of butter, honey and almonds. Mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon, cover saucepan and let quinoa cook until was water is gone about 3-5 minutes. Once quinoa is cooked it will look fluffy and if you taste, it will be soft. Preheat the oven to 400F. Wash and clean chicken hens thoroughly. Rub hens inside out, with salt and herbs de Provence and fill the cavities with quinoa. You will have some quinoa left, therefore when stuffing hens use a few spoons to avoid mixing the entire quinoa with raw poultry.  Keep the rest of quinoa for later to serve on a serving platter with hens. Put the chicken breast-side up, in a roasting pan. Melt the second half of butter in a bowl and microwave it for about 15 seconds. Mix melted butter, orange juice and broth in bowl and pour over chicken. Cover hens with aluminum foil and bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes.  Remove cover, baste hens with pan juices and roast them for another 10-15 minutes or until hens are done. When hens are roasted, transfer them to a serving plate, pour juice from the pan over chicken and place the remaining quinoa on a serving plate.