This was our first time making cornish hen and we really enjoyed it. I will make a couple of adjustments next time we make it, but overall it was simple, tasty, interesting, and very cheap. I wouldn't make any adjustments to the sides however - two of the best we have made by far.
Cornish Hen:
Remove the backbone (you can find instructions on how to do this online - I had no idea until I looked it up). Season liberally with salt and pepper and rub tons of rosemary and thyme into the skin of the chicken. "Marinate" for 1 - 24 hours (We only did it for 1 hour, next time it will be much more)
This is where the fun part comes in. Heat a skillet (or 2 if you are making 2 birds) to medium heat and swirl in olive oil. Drop in the bird skin side down and place a smaller skillet on top of the hen and place a weight on top of that (4-5 pounds). This will ensure even cooking and will brown both sides very nicely. Cook for 10 minutes or so, remove weight, turn over, add cloves of garlic, and re-apply weight. Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until interior temperature in thigh reaches 160 (I did it to this temperature and it was a bit overcooked - maybe I am not measuring it in the right place. Next time I will cook it to 150 and I'm sure it will be fine)
Salad:
The salad was just a very simple combination of farmers market micro greens, hazelnuts, and raisins. The dressing it was made the dish for me though and tied everything together:
Salad Dressing: 1 tbs sherry vinegar, 3 tbs balsamic vinegar, pinch of salt. Shake vigorously or stir. Add 1/8 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup nut oil (I used hazelnut since I was already using hazelnuts in the salad) The original recipe called for 1/4 cup olive oil and no nut oil, but I loved the extra flavor that the hazelnut oil brought.