Creamy French Chicken, Bacon and Vegetable Casserole

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PREP 30 minutes

COOK 1 hour

SERVES 6

Ingredients

  • 1kg boneless chicken thighs (or 1.5kg bone-in)
  • neutral oil, e.g. grapeseed, for frying
  • 200g bacon, rind discarded, chopped
  • 50g butter
  • 1 leek, outer leaves discarded, finely chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 400g mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • 1/3 cup mixed fresh chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary, safe marjoram)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 dried bay leaves (or 1 fresh)
  • 1/2 tsp finely ground white pepper
  • 1 cup cream mixed with 1 tsp cornflour (or use 200g creme fraiche)
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley, to serve

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180ºC regular bake.
  • Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and place in a plastic bag with a good amount of salt and pepper. Shake to coat.
  • Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon frying oil and the bacon Fry until browned and crisp. Set aside in a casserole dish with a lid. Leave the oil and fat in the pan and put back over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the chicken (you’ll need to do it in 2-3 batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan). Leave the chicken to sizzle until one side is nice and golden brown. Set aside with the bacon and repeat with the remaining chicken.
  • Tip the oil from the pan and discard. Add the butter to the same pan, along with the leek, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes until softened and reduced in size. It’s good to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan and get them mixed into the veges. Add the mushrooms and cook for another minute.
  • Stir the herbs, mustard, lemon zest, bay leaves and white pepper into the veges. Transfer everything to the casserole dish with the bacon and chicken pour the cream mixture over (or stir through the creme fraiche (and cover with a lid. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.
  • Serve with steamed new potatoes or mash, and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley.

Source

The book Eat, by Chelsea Winter

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