Food with Passion: Irish Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook and an avid fan of collecting cookery books with a passion for good old-fashioned home cooking.

His passion for proper family cooking stems from his Grandmothers, who were both excellent cooks, one of whom was a trained chef.

JP promises to bring us plenty of family-inspired recipes and tasty treats while showing us how to get the basics right.

I have posted this recipe previously, a few years back, but over the weekend as the weather was so dull, wet and grey I craved a comforting bowl of stew like goodness and I suddenly realised it had been sometime since I last made this delicious Chicken Casserole.

Full of earthy staple farmhouse vegetables, smoked bacon lardons and melt-in-the-mouth chicken, served with champ mash, this is the ultimate warming and comforting food for the soul, on days when all you need is a hug from a bowl at dinnertime.

This is a one-pot dinner, one of my favourite type to make (less washing-up) that can be prepped in advance and then bunged into the oven to slow-cook for a few hours, so it takes care of itself.

The smells as the casserole cooks are delicious, inviting and comforting and fill the whole house.

What better way to welcome your guests when they arrive than with the smell of a delicious supper.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 4 chicken fillets (skin on – your butcher will do this for you) or 8 chicken thighs. (I use fillets as none of my family like chicken with bones in)
• 500ml hot chicken stock
• Two tablespoons of flour
• 2 large carrots diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 parsnip diced
• 100g smoked bacon lardons
• 80g frozen garden peas
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon
• mustard
• Drizzle of runny honey
• Tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary chopped
• Sea salt & cracked black pepper for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil
• Two tablespoons of Chicken Gravy granules (if required and optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180° Celsius / Gas Mark 4.

 

2. In a large casserole dish, heat up the oil and pop the chicken in (skin side down) and cook until seared and golden brown.

 

3. Remove and set aside on a plate and pop in the bacon lardons and cook until they are browned off.

 

4. Add the chopped and prepared carrots, parsnip, onions and fresh herbs and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

5. Add the flour and cook off for two minutes then add the stock and allow to thicken for a minute or two.

 

6. Pop the browned-off chicken back into the casserole, season, clamp a lid on and pop into the oven for one hour. Remove and add the peas, stir and pop back into the oven for between 15 –30 minutes. All ovens vary but you are looking for the casserole to have thickened and the chicken to be tender and falling apart. Add the options x 2 tablespoons of chicken gravy granules if needed at this point.

 

7. Serve in large bowls with champ mash (Mash with softened scallion, butter, cream / milk)

Now sit back relax and enjoy. The flavours of this casserole are comforting, delicious and traditional and this dish is perfect to serve on those days when it is grey and wet outside, when you don’t want or have to leave the house.

This is my brother Barry’s favourite dinner and of course he came for dinner when I made it over the weekend and yes, he went back for seconds – it’s that good!

I hope you are inspired to give this recipe a go, you won’t regret it.

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