Rotten Chicken

For stuffing
2/3 cup long grain white rice rice
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 small red onion
1/3 cup drained dried tomatoes packed in oil (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 shallot
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
2 fresh turkey sausage links (about 6 ounces total)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
green food coloring

two 1 1/4-pound Cornish hens
1 c. chicken broth

one stick unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons crumbled dried sage
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or cilantro (your choice)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/2 teaspoon salt

Make stuffing:
prepare rice according to package and drain well;

While rice is simmering, separately chop fine onion, tomatoes, shallot, and parsley. Remove and discard casings from sausages and in a 12-inch non-stick skillet cook sausages in oil over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up lumps, until no longer pink. Add onion, tomatoes, and shallot and cook, stirring, until onion is softened. Stir in rice and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Add 3-4 drops green food coloring or until desired color is achieved. Cool stuffing completely. (Stuffing may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.)

Preheat oven to 350° F and butter a 1-quart baking dish.

Rinse Cornish hens inside and out and pat dry. In a small bowl blend together well 2 tablespoons of the butter with the sage, cilantro or basil, the zest, and the salt. Loosen the skin covering the breast meat on each hen by slipping your fingers under the skin and sliding them between the skin and the meat. Divide the butter mixture between the hens, inserting it under the skin of each hen and smoothing it evenly by rubbing the outside of the skin, and season the hens with salt and pepper. Fill cavities with some of stuffing. Tie ends of drumsticks of each hen together with kitchen string and transfer remaining stuffing to baking dish. Tie each hen's legs together with kitchen string.

Arrange hens on a rack set in a flameproof roasting pan and roast hens in upper third of oven, basting every 15 minutes with excess butter mixture or broth, 50 to 55 minutes total, or until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (be careful not to touch bone) registers 170° F.

During last 30 minutes of roasting hens, add 1/4 cup broth to stuffing in dish and bake, covered, in lower third of oven 30 minutes.

Serve these putrid little hens on a platter, letting them spew forth their maggoty innards for all to enjoy. If your friends or family have a really strong stomach, put the hens inside a clean garbage bag and tear holes in the bag to reveal the "rotten mess" inside.