I like basting roasts with a mixture of pan juices, balsamic vinegar, and honey. It adds flavor and a wonderful mahogany color to all kinds of roasts, from poultry to pork to veal. I also like to serve roasted vegetables as a contorno (side dish) with roasted meats. It makes sense: the oven is going, so you might as well make use of it. Sometimes I add more large-cut carrots and celery to the roasting pan with the meat and serve them alongside the carved roast. Or I put together a separate pan of other root vegetables—leeks, onions, parsnips, turnips, or even mushrooms—season them with salt, olive oil, some of the herbs I used to season the roast, and roast them on a separate shelf from the meat. While they roast, I add enough chicken stock to moisten them and stir them once in a while until they are caramelized and tender.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　2 Cornish hens (about 1 1/4 pounds each)

　　Salt

　　Freshly ground black pepper

　　5 fresh rosemary sprigs

　　10 sage leaves

　　2 fresh or dried bay leaves

　　1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

　　2 bunches scallions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths (about 2 cups)

　　1 cup peeled, trimmed, and thinly sliced carrots

　　1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

　　6 slices dried porcini mushrooms

　　2 cups Chicken Stock (page 74) or canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

　　3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

　　1 tablespoon honey

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Remove all visible fat and the neck and giblets from the Cornish hens. Rinse the hens under cold water and pat them dry inside and out with paper towels. Season the birds generously with salt and pepper, inside and out. Place one rosemary sprig, 2 sage leaves, and 1 bay leaf in the body cavity of each bird.

　　

Step 2

Heat the oil in a heavy, flameproof roasting pan or very large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions, carrots, celery, porcini, and the remaining rosemary and sage leaves and cook, stirring, until the scallions are wilted, about 4 minutes. Smooth the vegetables into an even layer and nestle the prepared birds, breast side up, over them. Roast, basting frequently with enough of the chicken stock to keep the vegetables well moistened, until the vegetables and hens are golden brown—about 45 minutes.

　　

Step 3

Carefully tilt the pan and spoon off enough of the roasting juices to measure 1 cup, not including fat. Stir the balsamic vinegar and honey into the measured juices until the honey is dissolved. Return the birds to oven and roast, basting occasionally with the honey mixture, until the birds are a rich mahogany color and the leg joint moves easily when you wiggle it, about 15 minutes.

　　

Step 4

Remove the birds from the oven, transfer them to a platter or plates, and cover with a tent of aluminum foil to keep them warm. Strain the pan juices through a sieve into a small saucepan, pressing as much of the liquid from the vegetables as possible. Skim the fat from the surface of the sauce, and bring the sauce to a simmer while carving the birds. With a pair of kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbones to remove them. Cut the birds in half through the center breastbone. Cut each half into leg and breast portions. Arrange the pieces on a platter or plates, and spoon some of the roasting juices over them. Pass the remaining sauce separately.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.