Maybe it’s an American thing, but I definitely remember those ads from being a kid.  My mom was always pretty good and making things relatively from scratch- but for a fleeting moment in time, we too got sucked into the Chicken Tonight jingle and bought Chicken Tonight…..  (What can I say, I’m a marketer’s dream!)

Fast forward quite a few years, and a continent far, far away to me and the Avoca Cafe Cookbook and tonight’s dinner.  I may have mentioned before that I’ve gone gluten free.  Well, for the last 6 weeks I’ve actually been gluten free and cows milk free and so far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I CAN eat whilst maintaining this regime.  

However, the Avoca Cafe Cookbook has stopped me in my tracks.  Everything has cream, flour, or fish (I’m not a massive fan of seafood much to The Runner’s disgust).  As a result our dinner pickings are, well, slim.  Very slim to be honest.  We have to rule out all of the Sausage recipes (gluten), Ham and mushroom en croute, Parma wrapped filet of ham, and a few options including a Lamb tagine (I don’t have hours to spend making dinner tonight).  Also gone, the Chicken, mushroom and asparagus lasagne- it sounds lovely but two lasagnas in one week is a bit much.  I can break out the gluten free flour which will expand our options a bit, but really we’re left with Beef Stew; Chicken w/garlic,red wine, and bay leaves; green chicken curry- although I won’t be making the paste from scratch tonight; and Duck breasts with celeriac mash and hot cherry sauce.  Yes, I ruled out pheasant and guinea fowl as well…. so as you can imagine, we’re having chicken tonight.  

Only 5 ingredients needed, and one of them is 3/4 of a bottle of red wine.    It looks like it will take 40 minutes to cook, fingers crossed, and the only things I don’t have in the house are 12 bay leaves and chicken.  It serves 6 so The Runner can take it for lunch tomorrow and Thursday.  Done!!!!!!