Game Hens In Chocolate Sauce

Recipe Ingredients

4		Game hens
		Salt - pepper to taste
		Olive oil
4		Garlic cloves - finely
1 tablespoon	15ml	Red wine vinegar
3 cups	711ml	Chicken stock
1/2 cup	118ml	Dry vermouth
2		White onions - coarsely
2		Not-too-ripe bosc pears - peeled, halved, core
12		Chestnuts - (prepared, from ajar, up to 16
2 oz	56g	Bitter chocolate - grated
8		Triangles of fried bread - (see note)
		Raisins - chopped parsley
		Garnish

Recipe Instructions

This recipe was inspired by one using partridges that appeared in "The Taste of Spain," by Camilla Jessel.

Season hens with salt and pepper. Heat a bit of oil in a large heavy pan and brown the birds in it on all sides. Add garlic to pan and stir until it takes on a pale color. Add vinegar, 2 cups of the stock, the vermouth and onions and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover tightly and cook gently until birds are very tender, about 1 hour.

Heat remaining cup of stock in a pan large enough to hold the pear halves. Add pears and poach until barely tender; remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Add chestnuts to poaching liquid and simmer until heated through; remove and keep warm.

Remove birds to a heated serving platter or plates. Strain cooking liquid, return to heat and add grated chocolate, stirring until it is a good sauce consistency. Pour over birds and garnish with pears, chestnuts, the fried bread, a few raisins and some chopped parsley.

Note: To make fried bread, cut crusts from 4 slices of white bread, then cut slices diagonally to make 8 triangles. Fry quickly in a little hot oil until golden on both sides. Drain and keep warm.

Jayne Benet writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, 3/18/92.

Source:
the California Culinary Academy

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