Cook garlic and potatoes: Fill a 3-quart saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add garlic and simmer 5 minutes. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add potatoes to water with bay leaf and salt to taste, then simmer, covered, 10 minutes (potatoes will not be fully cooked). Cool potatoes in hot water, uncovered, then drain and peel.
Make mustard butter and prepare hens while potatoes are cooling: Put a 17- by 11-inch roasting pan in middle of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter and set aside. Mash together mustard, chives, remaining 5 tablespoons butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 1 tablespoon mustard butter for sauce.
Remove excess fat from cavities and necks, then rinse hens and pat dry. Run your finger between skin and flesh of breast and legs of each hen to loosen skin (outsides of thighs are easier to access from neck end). Push mustard butter under skin and massage skin from outside to spread butter evenly over breast and legs. Season hens inside and out with salt and pepper and put half of herb stems in cavity of each bird. Tie legs together with kitchen string and close cavity with toothpicks.
Brush melted butter over hens.
Roast hens: Remove roasting pan from oven and add oil, tilting to coat. Put hens in pan, breast sides up, and scatter potatoes and shallots around them. Roast hens, basting every 10 minutes with a brush and turning vegetables, 30 minutes. Scatter reserved garlic and thyme leaves around hens and roast, basting frequently and turning vegetables, until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh (without touching bone) registers 170°F and vegetables are tender, 20 to 30 minutes more (30 to 40 minutes more for chickens). Discard string and toothpicks from hens and transfer hens to a platter. Surround with vegetables and keep warm, loosely covered, while making sauce.
Make sauce: Skim fat from pan juices and add chicken broth, then deglaze by boiling, scraping up brown bits, until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour sauce through a sieve into a sauceboat and stir in reserved tablespoon mustard butter with salt and pepper to taste.
Chop tarragon and parsley leaves and scatter over hens and vegetables. Serve with sauce.
Cooks' notes: Garlic and potatoes can be cooked 1 day ahead and chilled, covered (peel potatoes before chilling).
Mustard butter can be prepared 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before using.

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Nutrition Facts

Per Serving Per 100 g

Amount Per 1 Serving
Calories	385.26 Kcal (1613 kJ)
Calories from fat	92.08 Kcal
		% Daily Value*
Total Fat	10.23g	16%
Cholesterol	99.05mg	33%
Sodium	193.31mg	8%
Potassium	751.07mg	16%
Total Carbs	33.8g	11%
Sugars	8.86g	35%
Dietary Fiber	4.32g	17%
Protein	38.14g	76%
Vitamin C	30.9mg	52%
Iron	3.6mg	20%
Calcium	71.9mg	7%

Amount Per 100 g
Calories	102.68 Kcal (430 kJ)
Calories from fat	24.54 Kcal
		% Daily Value*
Total Fat	2.73g	16%
Cholesterol	26.4mg	33%
Sodium	51.52mg	8%
Potassium	200.17mg	16%
Total Carbs	9.01g	11%
Sugars	2.36g	35%
Dietary Fiber	1.15g	17%
Protein	10.16g	76%
Vitamin C	8.2mg	52%
Iron	1mg	20%
Calcium	19.2mg	7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Find out how many calories should you eat.

Tastes

salty
savory
bitter
sweet

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