We decided against a starter, the only one I fancied was French Onion soup, but OH wasn't too keen & it just didn't seem right making it just for one. Anyhow my recipes below, I really enjoyed Coq au Vin it was delicous, apparently the french serve it with a bagette, obviously I didn't, & just had it on it's own, very yummy
Coq au Vin
Ingredients:
- 5 lb chicken, rinsed, patted dry, cut into 6 large pieces
- 2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 medium white onions, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 2 gloves garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 cups dry red wine (I used 200mls = 7 syns)
- ¼ cup Cognac (I didn’t use as OH not too keen)
- Fry Light
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sweetener
- 8 ounces pearl onions
- 8 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin (I didn’t use as OH not too keen)
- 6 ounces good-quality sliced bacon, chopped
- 1 tbsp cornflour (3.5 syns)
Prep Time: 12 hours, 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 13 hours
Method
Place the chicken in a large, deep, non-reactive casserole dish. Layer the carrots, onion, celery, tomato, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, and pepper evenly over the chicken pieces. In a small bowl, mix together the red wine and Cognac. Drizzle the wine mixture over the vegetables and chicken, and then marinate the mixture overnight, for 8-12 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425F. Spray fry light on a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove each piece of the chicken from the marinade, reserving the liquid, and brown them on each side. Set aside the chicken, scoop the vegetables out of the marinade, and cook them in the skillet for 5 minutes, until they begin to get tender.
Arrange the chicken in a deep, glass casserole dish, layer the vegetables over the chicken, and pour the reserved liquid over the casserole. Sprinkle the salt and sweentener over the mixture, cover, and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, fry the bacon in the skillet until it is crispy and set it aside to drain. Sauté the mushrooms and onions over low-medium heat for 6-8 minutes, until they turn tender. When the chicken has cooked for 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and add the bacon, mushrooms, and onions. Cover and return the casserole to the oven for 20 minutes.
Mix together a little stock & the cornflour until it forms a smooth paste. Add to the chicken and vegetables for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remove the casserole from the oven and allow it to sit and thicken for a few minutes before serving.
French pancakes
Ingredients
2 eggs
25g of Ready Break
(Hexb)
1/2 cup of fat free vanilla yoghurt
1 tablespoon of Splenda
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
(both the above add up to 0.5 syns)
Frylight
Blueberries
Quark mixed with a little water & lemon juice
Method
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together the yogurt and eggs.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients.
Spray a griddle pan with some Frylight spray and cook your pancakes until golden on each side (be careful when flipping over). The mixture will make 4 pancakes.
Serve the pancakes with blueberries & drizzle over the quark.
