Heart health: Posh Coq au Vin

Coq au vin

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Oil-water spray
• 4 large chicken legs, skinned and cut into thighs and drumsticks
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 150g small pickling onions, peeled
• 4 bacon rashers, cut into strips
• 200g mixed fresh wild mushrooms, cleaned, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 150ml good-quality red wine
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 850ml hot chicken stock
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 small bay leaf

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F/gas mark 6. Heat a squirt of oil-water spray in a large non-stick flameproof casserole dish. Dust the chicken pieces with the flour mixed with black pepper. Add to the pan and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until the chicken is browned. Remove the chicken from the pan and place to one side.
• Add the onions and bacon and cook for 5 minutes, until browned all over. Then add the wild mushrooms and garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes until the mushrooms are browned. Add the red wine and boil for 2-3 minutes.
• Return the chicken to the pan, add the tomato purée and carefully mix well. Add the stock a little at a time to form a sauce.
• Bring to the boil, tuck in the thyme and bay leaf, cover with a lid and place in the oven to cook for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the sauce reduced in consistency and intense in flavour.
• Remove the thyme and bay leaf and serve with mashed potatoes and steamed spinach.

Per serving: 265 kcals, 7g fat, 2g saturated fat, 0.89 sodium

Extracted from: Healthy Eating for Your Heart by Paul Gayler with Jacqui Lynas BSc RD (Kyle Cathie), £12.99) with photography by Peter Cassidy. Buy the book at a discount from Saga Books.