Mediterranean chicken casserole

The winter is here and it’s time to start using your casserole dish again.

Ingredients
serves 4

2 tsp olive oil
8 chicken legs (grass fed)
1 large brown onion, halved, thinly sliced
3 celery sticks, trimmed, cut into 2cm-thick slices
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 x 400g cans diced Italian tomatoes
½ cup chicken stock
150g (1 cup) broad beans, thawed, peeled
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, for 5 minutes or until brown all over. Transfer chicken to a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof casserole dish.

Add onion and celery to the frying pan and cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and mushroom and cook, stirring for 2 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add tomato and stock and bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Add to casserole dish with the chicken.

Cover the casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid or foil. Bake in oven for 35 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Add broad beans and half the thyme and cook for a further 10 minutes or until broad beans are tender. Remove from oven. Taste and season with pepper.

Spoon casserole into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with remaining thyme and serve with cauliflower mash.

Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup

I am a big fan of this combination and as we head into winter what a lovely dinner this makes. Just make sure to add some meat so you get your daily amount of protein. I suggest you shred up some left over chicken into the soup.

Ingredients
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1 medium white onion, sliced
6-7 medium roma tomatoes (sliced in half)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 ml coconut milk
1.5 cups chicken stock
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C

Line a large baking sheet with foil. Place fennel slices, onion slices and tomato halves on the baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over fennel and onions. Place in the oven to roast.

After 30 minutes, remove the onions and fennel from the oven and place them in a large saucepan or pot. Continue to roast the tomatoes for another 30 minutes.

When the tomatoes are roasted, add them to the pot with the onions. Add coconut milk, chicken stock, garlic, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Turn the pot to medium-high heat and bring the soup to a boil. Once soup is boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Transfer into a blender (or use an immersion blender) and pulse a few times until the soup reaches your desired consistency.

I like mine to be pretty thick and chunky so I don’t blend it for long.

Remember to add the shredded chicken into the serving bowls before you pour in the soup.

Enjoy