Advice on how to cook a chicken casserole please

[leastsaidsoonestmended]

My ds, who is poorly at the minute, is really craving a chicken casserole and I need some advice in how best to cook one.

I am a vegetarian and never cook chicken so am pretty clueless and need a detailed recipe as lots of the ones I have looked at online seem to assume you will know things like whether to leave the skin on or wash the chicken before you cook it.

I have a pack of chilled chicken thighs and drumsticks, celery, leeks,carrots, potatoes, onions and hope that someone could give me some advice as to what to do with it all.

Something like this would give you a guideline.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1993649/easy-onepot-chicken-casserole

heat a little oil, and brown the chicken portions over a medium heat. You don't need to skin them or do anything to them. They will start to go golden and give off a chicken aroma when they are browned. You aren't cooking them through at this point, just crisping up the skin.

Remove those from the pot, set aside. Drain most of the fat out of the pan (which will have come off the chicken) and put in all your veg, diced. Fry, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes. At this point I normally put in things like allspice berries, bay leaves, thyme, cloves of garlic anything you like to flavour the stew.

Return the chicken to the pot, add enough stock to almost cover the contents, cover and bung it in the oven. I'm guessing you want it cooked fairly quickly so I would say 180c for 40 mins. You can do it for longer at a lower temperature if you want the chicken more tender.

Thanks Frau and Chops.
Funnily enough that was the first recipe I saw, Frau, and it was one of the few that mentioned what to do about the skin. It said to take it off but I wondered if it could be left on and would that make the casserole more tasty. Feels a bit ridiculous that I don't know any of this but I haven't cooked meat for over thirty years and only have dim memories of what to do but am going to have to get back in practice now ds has decided he wants to eat it.

Chops that is exactly the sort of detail I need, thanks.

I'd leave the skin on myself...

BBC recipes are always clear - and I've never had a disaster with any of them.

dont wash chicken ever. it is not necessary, as any bacteria will be killed during the cooking process, and washing raw chicken spreads live bacteria all over the shop.

Thanks everyone. I cooked it based on Chops recipe, didn't wash the chicken or skin it. Served with broccoli and roast potatoes and ds ate it all and declared it to be lovely, so thanks to you I can now add chicken casserole to my repertoire.

yea!

Glad it was a success!