Recipe: Roasted Game Hens (Pollastrini Arrosti) (Italian)

ROASTED GAME HENS (POLLASTRINI ARROSTI)

"Once some friends of mine, dining in a country trattoria, were served exquisite little game birds that had been roasted on a spit--the birds so small that a single plump olive had been tucked inside each tiny bird as a stuffing. "Wonderful," they exclaimed to the proprietor, "but what are they?" "Pettirossi," he replied proudly, "robin red-breasts."

Now, the consumption of robins is as illegal in Italy as it is in America, but there's no getting around the Tuscan predilection for little birds. I prefer to stay on the right side of the law and roast Cornish game hens. They may lack that frisson of the forbidden that robins have, but I'd rather have the robins singing under my windows.

Spit-roasting small birds like game hens is tricky, so I do these in the oven instead."

1 thick slice pancetta or prosciutto
6 Rock Cornish game hens, each about 3/4 pound
6 fresh sage leaves
6 bay leaves, preferably fresh
12 black olives (preferably small Gaeta or nicoise)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 thin slices pancetta or prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the thick slice of pancetta or prosciutto in 6 equal portions. Tuck a piece of pancetta inside each bird, along with a sage leaf, a bay leaf, and 2 of the olives, pitted if you prefer. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the outsides of the birds and rub into the skin, rubbing with some of the olive oil at the same time. Wrap a thin slice of pancetta or prosciutto around each bird, stretching the meat to cover the bird well. Set the birds in a baking dish in which they will all fit comfortably.

Roast for 15 minutes, then turn down the oven to 325 degrees F and continue roasting 30 to 45 minutes longer, or until the birds are done and the juices run clear when the bird is pierced with a fork.

Serve immediately, with the pan juices as a sauce.

Makes 6 servings
Excerpted from Flavors of Tuscany by Nancy Jenkins
Copyright 1998 by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.