Irene's Cornish Hens with Tarragon and Calvados

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons butter melted
• 0.5 cup calvados dry white
• 2  cornish game hens 
• 0.3 cup fat-skimmed chicken broth 
• 0.3 cup tarragon dried fresh chopped
• 4 servings parsley sprigs 
• 4 servings salt and pepper white
• 0.3 cup shallots chopped
• 0.8 cup whipping cream 

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• oven
• knife
• whisk
• poultry shears

Directions

1. With poultry shears or a knife, cut each hen in half lengthwise through breastbone and backbone. Rinse and pat dry. Reserve giblets for other uses.
2. Set halves, skin side up, in a 9- by 13-inch pan.
3. Brush skin with melted butter, then sprinkle with the shallots.
4. Bake in a 425 oven until meat at thigh bone is no longer pink (cut to test), about 40 minutes (35 minutes in a convection oven).
5. Transfer hens to a platter; keep warm.
6. Spoon off and discard fat from pan drippings.
7. Add calvados, broth, and tarragon to drippings. Set pan over medium-high heat and stir to scrape brown particles free.
8. Whisk in crme frache. Turn heat to high and boil until mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup, 5 to 8 minutes.
9. Pour sauce into a bowl.
10. Garnish hens with tarragon sprigs and add salt and pepper to taste.
11. Serve with sauce.