French Chicken Casserole Recipe

There’s something about classic country style French cooking which is so simple and intuitive that it’s easy to learn how to create tasty, flavourful dishes. Like this chicken casserole recipe, the ingredients are straight forward and once learned can be tweaked to your own taste by adjusting the level of herbs and garlic.

Like I said intuitive…

And this is real food, soul food, comfort food. There’s a reason French cooking is world famous and loved by all, it’s about keeping it simple and using quality ingredients to create depth of flavours that complement each other and deliver that 'expérience gastronomique' through humble home cooking. After all, one of the central cores of French cuisine is the recipes of the 'Lyonnaise mothers'. I have been making this chicken casserole for many years, yet have never tired of it. In fact I find on certain days I crave it. Why don’t you stop what you’re doing right now and give this a go…you won’t regret it. Once you have made it this dish it will stay with you, winning the respect and love from all those you make it for in the future. Ingredients Serves 2

• 4 x Chicken thighs skin on, bone in
• 1 x Medium onion
• 1 x Medium carrot
• 1 x Large stick of celery
• 6 x White or chestnut mushrooms
• 3 x Cloves of garlic
• 1 x Large glass white wine
• 1 x Sprig of fresh thyme, parsley and rosemary*
• 1 x Bay leaf
• 1 x Tsp sea salt

*You can use dried if you must but fresh is better, why not grow herbs in your garden or window box like me! Additional Vegetable oil, plain flour, water, white and black pepper Method Preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F or Gas Mark 4) Chop the carrot, celery and onion into similar size pieces about 1 cm (1/2 inch) long. Chop each garlic clove into 4 or 5 thick slices. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to a frying pan, about a tablespoon, and on a low heat add the chopped vegetables. Sauté for about 6-7 minutes, we do not want any browning at all so keep an eye on this stage and stir frequently.

Once the onions are translucent add the garlic and stir for about a minute just until you get a lovely garlic fragrance from the pan. Now remove all the vegetables to a casserole dish with a lid along with the herbs. Your frying pan will have a coating of oil left and that should be all you need now. So turn up the heat and add the chicken thighs to the pan. We want to seal them and get some colour on the skin. NOTE: We are using chicken thighs as they stay moist and the bone adds to the flavour and texture to the casserole. You could use legs but there is less meat so increase the quantity. Please no chicken breast here, as that would be missing the point. Once the skin is a nice golden brown place into the casserole dish and pour in all those pan juices.

Now add the salt, a good pinch of white pepper and a few good twists of black pepper. You could use one or the other of course but these different peppers do have different complimentary flavours. Keep the heat on the frying pan and pour in your glass of white wine (see here for my cooking with wine guide), we are going to let the wine boil to remove the alcohol and deglaze the pan. Once boiling turn of the heat and pout into the casserole dish. Quarter the mushrooms and add them to the casserole dish. In a cup mix a tablespoon of plain flour with about 100-150ml of cold water and mix until completely combined, now pour into the casserole dish, we want just enough to cover the chicken up to the skin. Do not cover the chicken completely! Now lid on the casserole dish and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 1 ½ hours. After that time you can serve or remove the lid return to the oven and turn off the oven. This will allow the chicken to rest as you sort out your sides. Potato anyway you want it along with some greens. The chicken will be fine for at least 45 minutes as the oven cools down. Serve and enjoy, I know you will :) Please remember to tell me about your experience trying this recipe in the comments below. Bon Appétit! Michael Robinson