I didn't expect to find inspiration for my holiday menus when I dined at a historic Parisian restaurant. Yet that's what happened when I sampled the wonderful canard a l'orange, or duck with orange sauce, at La Tour D'Argent, which is celebrated worldwide for its roast duck. Using a French-inspired fruit sauce turned my roast chicken into a special dish for Rosh Hashana.

The famous orange sauce is flavored with orange segments, juice and grated zest, caramelized sugar and wine vinegar. It owes part of its delicious taste to its base of chicken stock; homemade chicken soup is the best choice but packaged broth is acceptable because the sauce gains richness from the bird's roasting juices. Many other fresh and dried fruits can contribute to this type of sweet-savory sauce, from fresh poached plums to sauteed apple wedges to dried apricots.

Pomegranate seeds, a Rosh Hashana favorite, are terrific with roast birds and meats. Jayne Cohen, author of The Gefilte Variations, adds sweet-tart pomegranate juice to her holiday brisket and serves it with braised onions and pomegranate seeds.

Figs, another biblical fruit, are also a tasty option. Roast veal in a sauce of figs, white wine and honey is a Rosh Hashana choice of Gil Marks, author of The Joy of Jewish Entertaining. A natural accompaniment to a roast with a fruity sauce is a fruit-studded stuffing. In her traditional collection from 1955, The Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Leah Leonard suggests roasting duck or goose with bread stuffing flavored with orange juice, soaked pitted prunes, grated apples, chopped raisins or crushed pineapple. Fruit is good in all sorts of stuffings, especially those made of rice or orzo, as in the recipe below.

CORNISH HENS WITH DRIED APRICOT SAUCE

This festive holiday entree is garnished with dried apricots poached in wine and honey. You can also make the sauce with fresh or dried figs; see Variations. Orzo stuffing with fruit makes a tasty accompaniment; see next recipe.

The hens or young chickens, called pargiyot in Hebrew, make impressive servings when you present them whole but are easier to eat if you cut them in half.

• 1 cup dried apricots

• 1⁄2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. dry white wine, Madeira, port or

sherry

• 1⁄2 tsp. ground black pepper

• 1 tsp. ground ginger

• 1 tsp. soy sauce

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

• 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. honey

• 4 medium Cornish hens or pargiyot (each 600 gr. to 700 gr.)

• Orzo Stuffing with Apricots and Cashews (optional,

see recipe below)

• 1 cup chicken broth

• 3⁄4 tsp. potato starch dissolved in 11⁄2 tsp. water

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine apricots, 1⁄2 cup wine and 1⁄2 cup water in a bowl. Put a small plate on top to keep apricots in liquid. Let them soak while you prepare other ingredients. Preheat oven to 200º. Mix pepper, ginger, soy sauce, oil and 2 teaspoons honey in a small bowl. Rub hens all over with honey mixture.

If you like, spoon 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 cup stuffing into each hen, packing it gently; spoon remaining stuffing into a small oiled baking dish.

Set hens in a roasting pan just large enough to contain them. Roast hens, basting occasionally and adding a few tablespoons hot water to juices if pan becomes dry or if juices begin to brown. Roast for 25 minutes. Cover container of reserved stuffing and place in oven to reheat. Roast hens for 20 minutes more, or until thickest part of drumstick is tender when pierced with a skewer and juices that run from drumstick are clear. If juices are pink, roast hens a few more minutes; check again. Check stuffing in birds; it should be hot inside. Transfer birds to a platter or a carving board; cover loosely with foil.

Gently transfer apricots and their soaking liquid to a saucepan. Add remaining 2 tablespoons honey and water to barely cover fruit. Gently stir over low heat to blend honey into liquid. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until apricots are tender.

Pour off fat from roasting pan; leave in darker colored roasting juices. Reheat pan juices in oven for 3 minutes or until hot. Add 1⁄2 cup hot chicken broth to pan and warm for 3 minutes in oven. Remove from oven and stir thoroughly, scraping coagulated roasting juices into broth. Strain into a medium saucepan.

Add fruit's poaching liquid and remaining chicken broth. Boil, skimming occasionally, until mixture is reduced to about 3/4 cup. Remove from heat. Skim excess fat from sauce. Bring sauce to simmer over medium heat. Whisk potato starch solution and gradually whisk it into simmering sauce. Return to boil, whisking. Add 1 tablespoon wine and cook over low heat, whisking, 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, stir sauce. Add fruit to hot sauce, cover and let stand for 2 minutes. To serve, spoon stuffing from hens onto a platter. If you like, halve each hen lengthwise with poultry shears. Spoon a little sauce over each hen and garnish with poached apricots. Serve remaining sauce separately.

Makes 4 servings.

Reheating tips: Birds cut in half reheat more quickly. Place birds in a roasting pan with 1⁄2 cup hot broth and cover with foil. Reheat in a 190º oven for 45 minutes or until hot; check often and do not overheat. Reheat sauce and poached apricots in covered containers in oven or microwave.

Variations: Substitute 1 cup dried figs or 2 cups fresh figs for apricots.

If using fresh figs: Quarter them and poach them for only 5 minutes or until just tender. Remove from poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and add them to hot sauce just before serving.

ORZO STUFFING WITH APRICOTS AND CASHEWS

Use this lively melange of fruit and nuts as a stuffing or side dish. Instead of dried apricots, you can use figs or other dried fruit.

• 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1⁄3 cup chopped green onions

• 11⁄2 cups orzo or riso (barley-shaped or rice-shaped pasta) (about 350 gr.)

• 1⁄2 cup diced dried apricots or dried figs

• 3 cups hot chicken broth

• 1 tsp. ground ginger

• 2⁄3 cup toasted cashews