This chicken casserole is so tasty and perfect on those cold chilly evenings.  I like to serve mine with a warm french stick on the side to mop up the juices…You won’t want to buy a sachet again.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 chicken legs
• 900ml chicken stock
• 1 chicken oxo cube
• 4 rashers smoked bacon, cut into chuncks
• Frozen casserole mix (or 1 sliced onion, 1 sliced celery, ½ swede cubed, 2 sliced carrots)
• Handful of frozen peas
• 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1½ tsp sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc / Gas 4.
2. Season the chicken legs with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chicken until browned all over.  Place in a casserole dish and set aside.
3. Add the bacon to the frying pan, fry for around 30 seconds until slightly crispy  and add to the casserole dish along with the frozen vegetables (or fresh vegetables) and potatoes.
4. Pour in the chicken stock and crumble in the oxo cube.
5. Add the sage, thyme, bay leaf and seasoning and stir.  Place in the oven and cook for 2 hours, until the vegetables are cooked through and the chicken falls off the bone.
6. Whilst the french stick is warming in the oven, remove the chicken from casserole pot, strip from the bones, place the chicken back to the casserole, stir and serve.

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