Thursday 26 September 2013

Pot Roast Partridge

 
Hubby went to visit our local game butcher and came home with a brace of dressed partridge.  He then set about changing a recipe found on the Good Food Website for pheasant accordingly:-


Pot Roast Partridge
Serves 2  Approx. WW Pro Points 15

2 partridge, plucked and dressed
1 tbsp. flour
2 tbs. veg oil
2 rashers smoked bacon, thinly sliced
 8 shallots peeled
2 carrots peeled and cut onto chunky batons
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunky batons
1 clove garlic,
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. marjoram
2 bay leaves
100ml marsala
50ml red wine
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp. sugar

Heat the oven to 160oc/fan.  Dust the partridge in flour, heat the oil and brown the partridge.  Remove them from the pan and set to one side.

The fry the bacon, chopped garlic, vegetables and herbs with a little flour for 5 mins until the veg takes on some colour.  Place the partridge back in to the dish and pour over the marsala, wine, stock and sugar.

Cover and cook for about 40 mins.  Serve.

I cannot tell you how delicious this was, lightly gamey in flavour, sweet with the marsala and wine with a lovely herby taste.  The partridge being so small do not take long to cook and they were tender and juicy.  Will definitely be requesting this again from hubby.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Butternut Squash Lasagne

 
Whilst having tried various recipes to get a good veggie only lasagne that was healthy and tasty I came across this recipe from Recipe Rifle who in turn, I think, took it from Pippa Middleton's Celebrate book, not that I have read that.

Whereas the recipe opts for more or a 'cake' style, I decided to play with it a bit and make a healthy, creamy lasagne style as follows.

Butternut Squash Lasagne
Serves 2 greedily
Approx WW Pro Points 12


1 Butternut squash
1 onion, sliced into rounds
1 tbp oil
250g fresh spinach, steamed
2 tsp dried sage - crumbed or several fresh leaves, chopped
300ml skimmed milk
1 1/2 tbs flour
1 tbs butter
100g strong cheddar, grated
1 tsp wholegrain mustard

Heat the oven to 180oc/fan.  Peel the BNS and slice into rounds with a thickness of a £ coin (2-3mm), place these rounds with the onion rounds onto a baking tray and drizzle with oil.  Bake for 30 mins

In the meantime make up a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk - add most of the grated cheese and season well, stir in the mustard towards the end, it will help thicken the sauce.

Squeeze the steamed spinach to remove all the moisture.

Take the BNS and onions and layer up with the spinach and a sprinkling of sage, pour over some sauce.  Repeat layers and season each layer well with S&P.

Final layer with sauce on top and the remainder of the cheese.

Back into the oven for 20 minutes, serve.

Utterly creamy and the sage adds a wonderful hit, so good you don't miss the fact that there is no meat or pasta in the dish, very very satisfying.

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Chicken with Lentils & Baby Plum Tomatoes

 
Lentils - never had much luck with them before, the whole soaking then boiling mularky sometimes they ended up squishy or gritty so I pretty much gave up on them, until I found the wonderful invention of pre-cooked microwavable puy lentils!  I have to thank this recipe below from the October issue of Good Food magazine for bringing it to my attention, I would never have looked for them otherwise.  I have tweaked the recipe to suit two people.

Chicken with Lentils and Baby Plum Tomatoes
Serves 2  Approx 14 Weight Watchers Pro Points per serving.

300g Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless and cut into chunks
2 medium red onions, cut into wedges
2 tsp olive oil
150g Baby plum tomatoes, sliced in half
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 x 250g pouch microwave Puy lentils
1 tsbp red wine vinegar
Handful of fresh chopped coriander

Heat the oven to 180oc fan.  Toss the chicken and onion in the oil and roast in a baking tray for  10 mins.  Add the tomatoes and cumin seeds and cook for a further 10 mins.

Towards the end of cooking, microwave the lentils as per instructions and then tip them over the chicken mixture, pour over the red wine vinegar and toss together, sprinkle over the coriander and serve.

A really simple, tasty light evening meal.  Looks more impressive than the sub total of the ingredients make it.