As freezing temperatures in the UK continue, there’s nothing better than a warming winter meal. What’s more, cooking a tricky meal is not something you want to be doing after a long day at work, so a casserole is the perfect thing to make. Mary Berry has a range of casserole recipes up her sleeve, but one that delivers on flavour and simplicity is her chicken Valencia.
Describing the dish, Mary said: “Simple but tasty and with lots of flavoursome sauce, this is a casserole that you will come back to again and again.” With this recipe originally calling for chicken thighs, the cook pointed out that you could make it with chicken breasts, too, and this would reduce the cooking time to 25 minutes.
Ingredients (four to six portions)
- Two tablespoons of sunflower oil
- Eight chicken thighs on the bone, skin removed or chicken breasts
- Six rashers of smoked streaky bacon, thinly sliced
- Two onions, thinly sliced
- Three garlic cloves, crushed
- 25g of plain flour
- 300ml ofwhite wine
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- One tablespoon of muscovado sugar
- 400g of button mushrooms, sliced
- One tablespoon of chopped thyme leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Start by preheating your oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas Mark 3 before heating one tablespoon of the oil in a large, deep ovenproof pan or casserole dish with a lid.
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then add to the pan and brown over a high heat for two to three minutes on each side until golden all over. remove, cover with foil and set aside.
Add the bacon and onions to the pan (no need to clean it first) and fry for three to four minutes over a high heat until the bacon is crispy. Add the garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds.
Measure the flour into a bowl, then add the wine little by little and whisk into a smooth paste. Add to the pan with the tomatoes (see tip) and sugar, and stir well. Bring to the boil, then return the chicken and any juices to the pan and bring back up to the boil, stirring.
Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through. If you’re using chicken breasts, cook them in the oven for 25 minutes.
Shortly before the chicken is ready, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and fry for three to four minutes until golden and just cooked. Add the mushrooms to the casserole and stir in the thyme.
Mary Berry recommends serving the casserole hot with creamy mash and a green vegetable such as tasty kale or green cabbage.