Melt
butter over medium heat. When
bubbly, add in onions, garlic, and
mushrooms. Stir together to
distribute butter, and cook until
the mushrooms are slightly browned
on the edges, and the onions are
cooked through. Pepper to taste,
but do not salt. Add in the water
(you can substitute chicken stock)
and butter requirements for the
rice mix, and follow cooking
directions on box. (Another
optional ingredient that can be
added to this mixture is half a
box of frozen spinach.)
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees F.
While
rice mixture is cooking, rub
pepper and chicken boullion
granules on the inside and outside
of the birds. Prepare the streaky
bacon by taking the slices and
using the broad side of your best
knife to run down the length of
each piece, flattening and
widening them.
Once
rice mixture is cooked, remove
from heat, and using a spoon,
fully stuff each bird. You might
also be able to stuff from the
neck side, if the skin flaps allow
it. Loosely truss birds closed (I
usually just use a couple of metal
skewers, a little longer than
toothpicks, to close up the
stuffing, but I leave the legs
free, and akimbo the wings.) Lay
two slices of bacon across the top
of each bird, going from each wing
across to the opposite drumstick.
Place
in the oven and roast until
cooked, basting occasionally (The
bacon will do most of the work.)
Remove the bacon for the last five
minutes of roasting. Let stand for
five minutes once removed from
oven.
Recommended
sauce would be a roasted garlic
sauce, which can be made by
throwing 30-40 cloves of garlic
into the bottom of the hen's
roasting pan. While the hens are
resting, take all of the garlic
and any pan juices and whirl them
up in the blender until smooth.
Taste for seasoning. You may want
to add a little butter (while it's
hot) or a few herbs. Do not recook.
Yummy.
