Challenge: Foods of the world...JULY = BRAZIL

I think this might be my new favourite thread. I love theme nights, me and my friend quite often have them on a saturday night. I cant wait to read people's ideas :)
 
Well today is the day for my attempt at a French dish, I am doing 2 courses - I have prepped what I can I am just waiting (im)patiently for my shopping to be delivered - come on Asda!!!
 
I WILL get round to organising this in the next few days! :eek:
 
Toulouse cassoulet avec poulet followed by creme brûlée



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It was bloody lovely 3 syns plus 1 HEB.

And for desserts:



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This too was bloody delicious 1 syn and part HEA

Sorry for being mysterious and not posting recipes now but I am just about to leave the house for my mums birthday meal with the family.

Happy eating guys! Xxx
 
Grace89 said:
I think this might be my new favourite thread. I love theme nights, me and my friend quite often have them on a saturday night. I cant wait to read people's ideas :)
Click to expand...

Me too I love to cook we had a tapas night with friends the other night and i only used 2 syns and that was for chorizo it was fab
 
Charleybarley said:
Toulouse cassoulet avec poulet followed by creme brûlée



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It was bloody lovely 3 syns plus 1 HEB.

And for desserts:



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This too was bloody delicious 1 syn and part HEA

Sorry for being mysterious and not posting recipes now but I am just about to leave the house for my mums birthday meal with the family.

Happy eating guys! Xxx
Click to expand...

Right for the ingredients:

TOULOUSE CASSOULET AVEC POULET - SERVES 4 BIG PORTIONS (3 SYNS and 1 HEB) - will serve 6 smaller portions.

2 tsps - Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Oregano. Mix altogether in a bowl add Salt and Pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 onions (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 red pepper (I used green as it was left over from last week and I didn't want to waste it!) (chopped)
4 slices of 800g wholemeal bread whizzed into breadcrumbs (again, I used this because it was all we have in the house, obviously 8 slices of 400g are the same)
A healthy amount of parsley (chopped finely)
4 chicken thighs (skinned removed and browned off in the George Foreman)
4 Toulouse Sausages (Waitrose were the lowest syns at 3 per sausage - brown these in the GF grill too)
4 rashers of thick cut bacon (rind removed and grilled in the GF grill, you could use lardons but you would have to add syns)
1 tin of tomatoes
2 tins of butter beans (or any white beans, traditionally cannellini beans are used but these were in my cupboard!)
500ml chicken stock

Mix your parsley and breadcrumbs and set aside

Fry onion, peppers and garlic in the pan until softened, after about 5 mins add chicken stock, tinned toms and bay leaf. Stir, then add your browned off chicken, sausage and bacon, stir, then add the dry herbs in. Mix well, then add the beans - bring to the boil. At this stage I had to transfer the mix from my deep frying pan to a casserole dish with a lid and put it in the oven for a good couple of hours at 150 - 180 degrees. Take your casserole dish out of the oven and add the breadcrumbs and spray liberally with frylite and put back in the oven, uncovered for 30 mins or until your top looks nice and browned.

Take out and serve with salad or veg. It is delicious, please try this. The original recipe is slightly different to this, there are many versions actually that calls for Duck Confit which is slightly out of the depth of a SWer, but I managed to stick to the main base of the recipe - you could adapt this anyway you want and add wine, but I wanted to keep things as low as I could.

CREME BRULEE - this is from someone on minimins from a while back, so I have them to thank for finding it:

SERVES 4 PORTIONS - 1 SYN PLUS PART HEA (you could always syn the milk as you are not quite using half, but I was happy to make this my allowance for the day!)

1/2 pint of semi skimmed milk
2 eggs
Artificial sweetner (I used 1 tbsp but I perhaps could have used a little more - I am not very sweet toothed so you might want to add more if you are)
a few drops of vanilla extract
4 tsps brown sugar

Heat the milk in a saucepan until its hot, not boiling. While that is heating, mix your two eggs and the artificial sweetner together until its light and frothy. Add the milk nice and slowly and mix well together, add your vanilla. In some ramekins (I admit I only had two so the remainder went into a cereal bowl - classy me!).

Put the ramekins into a deepish baking pan and add some warm water so the water come to around the middle of the ramekins. Put them in the oven for 40 mins at about 150 - 180 degrees. Remove them carefully and leave them to cool. When suffficiently cooled, add 1 tsp brown sugar to each of the ramekins and put them under the grill until that sweet sweet caramel smell tells you they are crispy on top.

These were really lovely, not the exact same as a fully creamed cream brulee and there was a bit of skin on top of the egg custard, but who can say no to a bit of milk skin!

All in all a total success. I will do the creme brulee for a special meal as they were easy peasy and tasted expensive and naughty - the cassoulet I will defo do again as it was easy and inexpensive, you could do this with BGTY sausages for a lighter synned meal, or even use different meats, I bet lamb would totally work instead of sausage and chicken. Definitely a chuck in whatever you have type of meal.

Well thats me done, who is next to tease us with there fab Francais ideas - come on ladies and gents, lets be having you - dont leave me hanging!!!!

xxxxx
 
Looks good. I will start thinking about it! :)
 
Happy Holidays said:
1 syn for creme brulee that's brill, it looks amazing, you're Toulouse cassoulet avec poulet looks scrummy & filling. I thought about making cassoulet, but I wasnt' too sure if OH would eat it.

I just need to find out when OH is next off & I can make my meal:D how exciting.
Click to expand...

Try making it Happy - its really nice. My Mick wouldn't eat it, so I gave a portion to my mum and sis and I am having last last portion right now - so so good! You could make a variation of mets - its the beans that Mick wont eat, which is, unfortunately the main part of a cassoulet. Ah well, more for greedy me!!!!!
 
Hello :wavey:
I have stumbled my way on here whilst looking for a veggie burger recipe (I'm easily distracted :p) and thought this sounded interesting. A main meal I particularly like is chicken chasseur which would fit in a french theme. Here is my recipe (which I adapted from a Gary Rhodes recipe..mainly by leaving out oil)

3 syns per serving on Extra Easy and Original.

For Green I guess you could have HEB portion of chicken?

Chicken chasseur serves 4 = 3 syns per serving
6 Skinless, boneless chicken thighs Free
2 onions, thickly sliced Free
250g whole button mushrooms Free
300 ml white wine 12 syns
400ml chicken stock Free
4 tomatoes, quartered (and de-seeded if you like) Free
1tbsp tomatoe puree (negligible syns per serving)

method:
  • Cut thigh portions in half so you have 12 pieces= 3 pieces each for serving :)
  • Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Pan-fry the chicken over a medium-high heat using frylight, turning, until golden on both sides. Remove from the pan and keep to one side
  • Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan, stirring occasionally until they have a little colour and are beginning to soften, 6-8 mins.
  • Stir in the tomato purée and white wine, then pour in the stock.
  • Return the chicken to the pan and bring to a simmer.
  • Place a lid on the pan and continue to cook, allowing the sauce to just simmer for about 1 hr, or until the meat is completely tender
  • At the last 15 minutes, add the tomatoes. Simmer, without the lid, until has reached a nice consistency.
Serve with veg and mashed potato, or whatever you like :)

I also particularly like using leftover wine on a glass of vino to have with it if you have enough syns to spare ;)


Oooh, and I have a nice clafouti recipe for dessert somewhere... just need to find that out.

And for starters Moules a la provencale. Yum.

Ingredients
Serves: 6


  • 3 shallots, chopped, or one onion finely chopped2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 (400g) tin chopped tomatoes
    1 teaspoon tomato purée
    36 mussels - cleaned and
    debearded
    small handful fresh chopped basil
    small handful fresh chopped oregano
    2 tomatoes, chopped


Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallots and garlic in
oil until soft. Stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and the mussels. Season
with basil and oregano. Cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in fresh tomatoes. Cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that
have not opened their shells. Using a slotted spoon, place mussels in bowls and
pour sauce over the top.

So there you are, my 3 course menu:

Moules a la provencale Free
Chicken Chasseur 3 syns per serving
Clafouti ?





 
Last edited:
laura2481 said:
Hello :wavey:
I have stumbled my way on here whilst looking for a veggie burger recipe (I'm easily distracted :p) and thought this sounded interesting. A main meal I particularly like is chicken chasseur which would fit in a french theme. Here is my recipe (which I adapted from a Gary Rhodes recipe..mainly by leaving out oil)

3 syns per serving on Extra Easy and Original.

For Green I guess you could have HEB portion of chicken?

Chicken chasseur serves 4 = 3 syns per serving
6 Skinless, boneless chicken thighs Free
2 onions, thickly sliced Free
250g whole button mushrooms Free
300 ml white wine 12 syns
400ml chicken stock Free
4 tomatoes, quartered (and de-seeded if you like) Free
1tbsp tomatoe puree (negligible syns per serving)

method:
  • Cut thigh portions in half so you have 12 pieces= 3 pieces each for serving :)
  • Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Pan-fry the chicken over a medium-high heat using frylight, turning, until golden on both sides. Remove from the pan and keep to one side
  • Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan, stirring occasionally until they have a little colour and are beginning to soften, 6-8 mins.
  • Stir in the tomato purée and white wine, then pour in the stock.
  • Return the chicken to the pan and bring to a simmer.
  • Place a lid on the pan and continue to cook, allowing the sauce to just simmer for about 1 hr, or until the meat is completely tender
  • At the last 15 minutes, add the tomatoes. Simmer, without the lid, until has reached a nice consistency.
Serve with veg and mashed potato, or whatever you like :)

I also particularly like using leftover wine on a glass of vino to have with it if you have enough syns to spare ;)


Oooh, and I have a nice clafouti recipe for dessert somewhere... just need to find that out.

And for starters Moules a la provencale. Yum.

Ingredients
Serves: 6


  • 3 shallots, chopped, or one onion finely chopped2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 (400g) tin chopped tomatoes
    1 teaspoon tomato purée
    36 mussels - cleaned and
    debearded
    small handful fresh chopped basil
    small handful fresh chopped oregano
    2 tomatoes, chopped


Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallots and garlic in
oil until soft. Stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and the mussels. Season
with basil and oregano. Cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in fresh tomatoes. Cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that
have not opened their shells. Using a slotted spoon, place mussels in bowls and
pour sauce over the top.

So there you are, my 3 course menu:

Moules a la provencale Free
Chicken Chasseur 3 syns per serving
Clafouti ?
Click to expand...

That sounds lovely, especially the mussels. I love mussels, but usually only in a creamy garlic sauce! It'd be great if you could make it all and send us in piccies before the end of the month - you up for it Laura?

While I am at it, if you check out my food diary, I have made a nice veggie burger, ingredients, links, pics etc on my food diary (link below).

xx
 
Hi
So on Saturday night my friend is coming around and we are having a French night, i couldnt really think of what to have and charleybarleys meal sounded so nice so we are having:

Starter : Pistou Soup - Free
Main: Toulouse cassoulet avec poulet
Pudding: Creme Brulee - 1 Syn

I also looked and Mushroom omelette, pacakes (crepes) with honey and Jam and coq au vin (not sure how to spell it :/) are also all French type food and could all be adapted to slimming world :)

I'm looking forward to trying it out on Saturday x
 
Grace89 said:
Hi
So on Saturday night my friend is coming around and we are having a French night, i couldnt really think of what to have and charleybarleys meal sounded so nice so we are having:

Starter : Pistou Soup - Free
Main: Toulouse cassoulet avec poulet
Pudding: Creme Brulee - 1 Syn

I also looked and Mushroom omelette, pacakes (crepes) with honey and Jam and coq au vin (not sure how to spell it :/) are also all French type food and could all be adapted to slimming world :)

I'm looking forward to trying it out on Saturday x
Click to expand...

Hi Grace - enjoy your cassoulet and creme brulee - the cassoulet was amazing - the creme brulee was nice enough! It certainly looked the part, but you could tell it wasn't the real thing, but for 1 syn you cant grumble.

Sadly my thread doesn't really seemed to have taken off as well as I had hoped. I was going to go for another internationl cuisine for June but I am not sure I will bother...what do people think?

x
 
Sorry I am afraid that the trials of life have taken over and I forgot and blah blah blah.

It's a great idea though. x
 
I think the French theme was the wrong one to choose for a first - would not have thought that many people associated French food with SW or for many of us to eat here in the UK for that matter. It is not the first choice of cookery books lots of us would look through or have at home (unless you are a very keen cook). I did google lots of sites but was not impressed with the choice to adapt - especially veggie food.
Indian, Italian, Chinese or Mexican etc would have been a better choice.

Please don't be offended - this is only my opinion.
 
systema said:
I think the French theme was the wrong one to choose for a first - would not have thought that many people associated French food with SW or for many of us to eat here in the UK for that matter. It is not the first choice of cookery books lots of us would look through or have at home (unless you are a very keen cook). I did google lots of sites but was not impressed with the choice to adapt - especially veggie food.
Indian, Italian, Chinese or Mexican etc would have been a better choice.

Please don't be offended - this is only my opinion.
Click to expand...

I think it's a good choice, it makes people think about how we can adapt everyday meals which we all enjoy to SW friendly meals, my ideas are French onion soup, main undecided, but for dessert either pancakes or Le-Clafouti (custard batter with fruits):D I know other countries will be easier, but I like a bit of a challenge every now & then:D
 
systema said:
I think the French theme was the wrong one to choose for a first - would not have thought that many people associated French food with SW or for many of us to eat here in the UK for that matter. It is not the first choice of cookery books lots of us would look through or have at home (unless you are a very keen cook). I did google lots of sites but was not impressed with the choice to adapt - especially veggie food.
Indian, Italian, Chinese or Mexican etc would have been a better choice.

Please don't be offended - this is only my opinion.
Click to expand...

Hi Systema

I am totally not offened, but I totally disagree with everything you have said - the title is "Challenge" and the whole idea was to push ourselves to make different meals and attempt different cultures. I am sure, should this thread take off, we will get round to the more obvious cuisines of India, Italy, Chinese etc. but I am sure we make plenty of these in our everyday meals anyway, I know I do. I want to try more Moroccan, Caribbean, African, Vietnamese etc. cuisines, things that will keep my passion of food and new ideas alive.

I wanted to push the boat out, make people google new recipes in new cuisines. The whole point of SW is to adapt recipes that follow the SW way - surely thats the same for vegetarians to? I am sure there are plenty of recipes you could adapt that are meaty and substitute for fish/meat alternatives/vegetables - my cassoulet for case in point. You can use whatever you like in this dish, it doesn't have to be what I used.

This is why I started the thread, in the hope that I and other cans inspire one another to try new things.
 
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