Packet Meals - Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

ratticus (58)in #food • 7 years ago

So it might seem a bit strange as we start getting warmer temperatures to still be making casseroles, but I still like them right up until regular high 20C/low 30C temps, when I start preferring generally cooler dishes. Meat with Salads instead of Meat with Veg for those that remember the Meat and 3 veg that seemed to dominate my parent's generation in the English world.

Masterfoods Slow Cook Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole.jpg
^{Some of it could look more photogenic, but it does look tasty}

Packet Recipe

Oil
500 grams Chicken Breast, sliced (I diced mine)
1 Leek, sliced
3 Carrots, peeled and sliced
2 Potatoes, peeled and diced
Packet Masterfoods Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Recipe Base

Additional Ingredients

1/2 Sweet Potato, peeled and diced (larger than the potato though)
1/3 large Fennel, sliced
50 ml Water
6 Mushrooms, quartered

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Ingredients.jpg
^{I think I got all the ingredients in this time. Excuse the non-normal area, Housemates were using the prep-table}

Method

Place Potatoes, Sweet Potato and Carrots in the slow cooker.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Add to Slowcooker 1.jpg
^{So, my carrots hadn't made it in yet for this pic...}

Heat Oil in a pan and brown the diced Chicken.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Brown Chicken.jpg
^{It's chicken. It's browning. It's in a pan!}

When browned, tip the chicken and any liquids in the pan into the slow cooker.
Fry the **Leek **and Fennel for about 5 minutes over a medium heat, before adding them to the slow cooker.
Pour about 50 ml **Water **into the pan and heat a bit, getting up any bits that you can before also adding this to the slow cooker.
Finally add the Recipe Base to the slow cooker and give everything a good stir to combine.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Add to Slowcooker 2.jpg
^{I figured a pic before it was all mixed up would be good. But not before I'd started to do just that...}

Cook for 3 1/2 hours on High, or 7 hours on Low.
Remove the lid and add the Mushrooms and mix them into the casserole

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Add Mushrooms.jpg
^{Those Mushrooms sure look clean. Better mix them in}

Cook for another 30 minutes on High with the lid off. If you want a thinner sauce, leave the lid on, and maybe add a little more water before stirring the Mushrooms in.
Serve with Rice

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole Serve.jpg
^{The packet suggested 4 serves. With my added veggies, and possibly more rice than others would use, I made 5 serves, so it might have been a stretch to get 4 without the additions}

Thoughts

I needed to cut the sweet potato even larger, as it mostly went to mush. Or possibly adding it with just an hour to go might have helped it retain more structural integrity. It was however still quite together, just not in a really stable shape. All the other veggies were fine, though some things stuck to the sides a bit, so if you prefer that not happen, maybe spray the inside of the slow cooker first.
The fennel added a really slight flavour, which went nicely, but I could easily have done with more of it. Maybe as much as there was leek, instead of about half as much would have been better.
Overall however, it was a crazily simple thing to make, with almost no time in the kitchen. As an added bonus, cooking on high meant that when I added the mushrooms, I started getting the rice on. When the rice cooker was done, so was the casserole. If you like casseroles, and chicken, and don't have time, this is for you. As with most slow cooker recipes you could also skip pretty much all the steps asides from the cooking. Just chop up all the meat and veg, put it in the slow cooker, stir and turn it on. Not much can be simpler to get you to a pretty tasty dish that will serve 3-5 depending on hunger and veggies added.