CASSEROLE
3 to 4 x chicken Maryland, bone in, skin on
20ml olive oil
salt and black pepper
100gm bacon rashers
250gm onion
300gm carrot
250gm mushrooms
1 x medium clove garlic
20gm unsalted butter
25gm plain flour
60ml dry white wine
600ml chicken stock
¾ cup frozen baby peas
MASH
650gm Royal Blue potatoes
25gm butter
salt
75ml full fat milk
METHOD
- Place large frying pan over medium heat.
- Season chicken both sides with salt and pepper. Add 20ml oil to frying pan and place chicken skin side down into pan. Fry for 5 to 7 minutes without moving (adjust heat up or down as necessary). After 5 minutes, carefully lift chicken from pan and check colour. If deep golden and crisp, turn over. If not, leave for another couple of minutes, then turn. Fry for a couple of minutes on the other side.
- Meanwhile, cut bacon rashers into 1½cm dice. Add to pan next to chicken and fry for a couple of minutes, moving occasionally until well cooked.
- While chicken is cooking, prepare vegetables. Peel and roughly chop onion. Peel and dice carrot. Cut mushrooms into quarters. Peel garlic.
- Remove bacon and chicken from pan onto plate.
- Add onion and carrot to pan, season with a little salt and pepper. Add another couple of teaspoons oil only if pan is dry. Fry veggies for 3 to 4 minutes to colour and soften slightly.
- Add mushrooms and crush garlic into pan. Add butter and stir. Cook for a further couple of minutes.
- When all components are hot, sprinkle over flour and stir for a minute or so to combine with fat in pan and cook the flour.
- Pour in wine, it will sizzle. Stir to combine into flour. Add stock in 3 batches, stirring each time to incorporate into a sauce.
- Replace chicken into pan skin side up. Keep golden skin out of the liquid during cooking to preserve colour and texture.
- Turn heat down until sauce is gently simmering. Cook uncovered for further 10 minutes.
- Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Add peas to casserole and bring back to a simmer. Turn off heat.
- While cooking the casserole, place a large covered saucepan of salted water on high heat.
- Peel potatoes and cut into 3cm dice.
- Place potatoes in water (whatever temperature it is), replace lid and maintain high heat to bring to a boil.
- Turn heat down, simmer potatoes for about 15 minutes, until soft. Strain into colander. Replace potatoes back in warm pan.
- Add butter to potatoes and season with a little salt. Begin to mash potatoes and once rough mash is formed, add milk. Continue to mash until really smooth. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- Serve mash topped with chicken sauce and veggies.
FRESH MADE SIMPLE NOTES
- Most importantly, the flavour is created during the beginning of this recipe. Heat underneath the pan will need to be monitored throughout this time. If it is too low the items will stew as moisture is released and moisture is the nemesis of colouring. On the other hand if too high, the browning will quickly turn to blackening and the flavour will be bitter. If this sounds a bit scary, simply overcome your fear by cooking this! You'll feel so accomplished when you serve up a delicious meal to friends or family.
- The best pan to cook this in is a frying pan with sides that can accommodate the volume of sauce. Frying in a saucepan doesn't work as effectively as the high sides assist in creating too much steam.
- Chicken Maryland is the thigh and drumstick in one piece, bone-in, skin-on for maximum flavour. Cut through the thigh and drumstick to separate them before cooking if preferred (your butcher may do this for you).
- Use chicken drumsticks in place of, or as well as thighs.
- Replace peas with fresh corn kernels, sliced from the cob. Add them once stock has been stirred in and is simmering.
- All vegetable weights are approximate and can vary by a few grams either way. The recipe will still work.
- Read this my article on how to thicken at the end of cooking with a Beurre Manie.
- If using stock cubes, less salt will be needed to season during cooking. If using homemade stock, a little more salt may be necessary. Taste the stock before using so you can gauge saltiness.
- To get this casserole on the table quickly, use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and drumsticks. It will speed up initial time spent browning the chicken. Once all vegetables are cooked, the chicken will also be ready to serve. The downside of omitting skin and bones plus the shorter cooking time means it won’t develop as much depth of flavour.
- If wanting to make this into a pie filling, pre-cook a day in advance. Add an extra 10gm butter and flour to make a thicker sauce. Once cooked, when cool enough to handle, strip chicken meat from bones into bite size pieces (discard skin as it will be an unpleasant texture). Line pie tin with pastry, add cold chicken mix and cover contents with pastry top. Join The Cooks Collective and check out Chicken Bacon and Leek Pie recipe for pastry and cooking method of pie. Includes instructional how to video.