Sunday Night Romertopf Roast

For Christmas Big N's sister Star gave me a Romertopf- an unglazed clay pot with a dome lid that seals in the juices and nutrients while it roasts. I decided to try it out with a simple preparation of cornish game hen and vegetables, au-so-French. As recommended in the Romertopf cookbook, I prepared the hen by seasoning it inside and out with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and parsley. Then I mixed sour cream, lemon juice, and water and poured it into the pot (which I already soaked in water for 20 minutes) to provide the moisture. The vegetables were simple carrots and parsnips, Big N's favorite.

As promised, the dish could not have been easier to prepare, and in 1 hour we had delicious roasted hen, moist and tender. I think I can get used to the Romertopf and will experiment with other recipes. One thing to note- I highly recommend not buying the cornish hen at Whole Foods. The organic mini-bird was about a third the size of a whole chicken roaster and 3 times the price ($15). Luckily, it fed both Big N and me, barely, but I'm not sure the organic tradeoff is worth $15 bucks for such a munchkin.

We paired our mini-hen with a lovely easy-drinking Burgundy, the Bouchard Aine & Fils La Maziere, from the Fixin AOC (a lesser-known AOC near Marsannay) on the north end of the Cotes de Nuits. Wines from Fixin are known to be good value Burgundies. It had a nice Abba Zabba candied nose with some vanilla notes from the oak, and smooth spices and easy tannins on the finish. Very drinkable. We gobbled it up.