Recipe - Easy Chicken Casserole

I happened upon this recipe a few months back, I just fancied Chicken Casserole but made a little differently to how I usually make it.  Everyone has their own take on basic recipes, be it chilli, casserole, spag bol, and I wanted to see how someone else's tasted.  Seeing as I cater for everyone but nobody ever invites me around for food!  I found this video recipe on A Glug of OilAs I watched the video, it looked so simple and so basic that I really thought it wasn't going to be anything special.  Nice, but not... wow.  Well, was I forced to eat my words (along with every scrap on my plate!).  Mr G wolfed it down and proclaimed it 'One of the nicest meals I've had in a long time'.  Not sure what that says about my cooking though... ha!  It's now 'my' go-to Chicken Casserole recipe.  We even made little pies with the leftovers in my bargain piemaker that I bought on holiday.

Jan makes her casserole on an induction hob.  I don't have one of those, so I usually make it on the stove.  This week, I've been doing my Autumn clean.  The last couple of days the kitchen has copped it, and I've rejigged cupboards, moved appliances up to the kitchen and food down to the pantry.  I have so many different appliances that I don't use as much as I should do.  With the exception of my trusty double slow cooker, of course!  I was having a look at my Severin Party Cook Pan, and realised that although it's one of these devices that does a multitude of things, I've only ever used when I've had company and needed to cook four or more pieces of gammon or steak.  So today, I'm going to try using it to make this casserole.  The only thing that I didn't have this time was celery, but it'll save the children having to pick it out...

Ingredients:
Chicken breast (I used four)
Onion, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
5 large mushrooms, sliced
100g Pearl Barley, rinsed and boiled for about 15 minutes
Tin of Campbell's Condensed Soup (plus two cans of water)
3 heaped tablespoons of Bisto Best Chicken, mixed to a thick paste with hot water
Salt and ground black pepper

I heated up a little oil in the pan and added the onions and carrots.  I softened them for a few minutes and then I added the chicken.


 Once the chicken was sealed, I added the mushrooms, the pearl barley, Campbells soup and the two tins worth of water, and stirred.  Then I added the Bisto Best paste, and stirred this in to the casserole.


I left the casserole to simmer.

I came back in, and the carrots were still rock hard.  I played around with the heat control, and it became apparent, very quickly, that there were only two cook settings on the bloody thing.  Hell Fire or Tea Light.  Because the casserole contains pearl barley, the 'simmer' had to be supervised as it was sticking.  It was like waiting to die.  I'm suffering with my back this week, and I really, really didn't want to be stood there watching it cook.  Eventually, I relented and shoved everything in a large saucepan to finish off.  Severin was thrown through the kitchen window.  So, now I know.  Severin is fine for steak, but crap for everything else.  Party Cook Pan, my arse.


Five minutes before it had finished cooking (seventeen hours in total...) I added the peas.  Seasoned it with salt and black pepper.  Served with potato and swede mash, and pointed cabbage.  By the time it was ready, I was too hungry to take a photo.   

Comments

  1. Aw, I hope your back is doing better as mine is slowly getting back to where it was before this past weekend and still I am with you not wanting to stand around waiting for anything to cook anytime, but especially when my back is bothering me, as well.

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    Replies
    1. It's been raging the last couple of days, Janine, and whether I'm stood up or sat down, it still hurts. I'd been doing so well, I was off the strong painkillers, talk about being lulled into a false sense of security! Ah well, onwards... this too shall pass... ;-)

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    2. Glad yours is on the mend though :-)

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