Here’s something I made up for Melissa after seeing Cornish game hens at the grocery store. A little adaptation, a little improvisation, and a lot of good eats.

Coq au Vin for Two

You’ll need:

Two Cornish game hens
Two bottles of decent Pinot Noir or red Burgundy
Two strips of bacon (four if they aren't thick cut strips)
Celery seed
Two small handfuls of baby carrots
One stalk of celery
Ten pearl onions
One and a half cups chicken stock or broth
A sprig of fresh rosemary
A thingy of fresh sage
Some thyme
A five quart (or thereabouts) saucier pan (It’s like a short stockpot with a lid)

Pre-heat the oven to 350°

Heat the saucier pan on medium high heat. Put in the bacon and rend the fat. While that’s going on, give the little tiny chickens a good coating of celery seed. Now, remove the burnt bacon and throw it away. In the leftover bacon fat at the bottom of the pan, sear both chickens on all sides, for a total of about two minutes. Remove and put aside.

Into the saucier pan, pour ½ bottle of wine, the chicken stock, and the rosemary, sage, and thyme. While you wait for it to boil, slice the celery into bite-size chunks and peal the pearl onions. Dump them into the boiling mixture, along with the baby carrots. Reduce the sauce by about one-third, adding a pinch or four of salt.

Put both chickens in the saucier. If the sauce doesn’t cover at least half the chicken, pour in some more wine. If there’s too much, remove the chickens and reduce some more. Then put on the lid, and place in the oven. After about 12 minutes, flip the birds (pun intended, but superfluous) over on their backs. Bake for another 12-15 minutes.

Remove from oven, and put one bird on each plate. Arrange the veggies nicely around the sides, and ladle sauce over the whole shebang. Have some colored pasta twists ready, and place at the rear opening like stuffing coming out of a Thanksgiving turkey. Finally, add a generous grinding of fresh cracked pepper.

Serve with the other 1½ bottles of Pinot Noir.

(Melissa loved this so much, she took pictures of the plates. I'll post'em as soon as I get'em. And now, back to the War.)