French Chicken Casserole with Apple Cider
By CreateCookShare
4 serves
15 mins
60 mins
Ingredients
- 4 The Bare Bird chicken drumsticks
- 4 The Bare Bird chicken thighs
- 330ml Dry Apple Cider
- 100g crème fraiche (or your preferred dairy free alternative)
- 4 bacon rashes, chopped
- 2 Fuji apples, cored and cut into wedges
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 celery sticks, remove string, thinly slice
- 1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
- 8 springs of thyme, discard stems
- 1 tbsp corn flour in ½ cup cold water
- 1 tbsp quality butter or ghee (dairy free option)
- Sea salt and pepper
Method
- Pre heat oven 190°C fan forced.
- Pat chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and season with salt & pepper. Add to a large non-stick pan with the butter and cook until all sides are golden. Remove and add to a baking dish.
- In the same pan add the bacon and lightly brown. Remove and scatter around the chicken.
- Next add to the same pan the celery and thyme leaves and over a low heat gently simmer for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and cook a further minute. Remove and scatter over chicken and bacon.
- In the same pan add the corn flour that has been dissolved in the cold water along with Dry Apple Cider. Over a low heat gently and continuously stir to combine well. Once it starts to gently boil, turn off the heat and pour in the crème fraiche. Stir to combine well and then pour the sauce mixture over the chicken.
- Place into the oven and cook covered for 30 minutes. Then cook uncovered for a further 15 minutes.
- While it is cooking place the apples in the same pan – add an extra teaspoon of butter of needed – and lightly cook until golden on each side.
- Remove casserole out of the oven and stir in the cooked apple wedges.
- Serve with crusty bread, steamed green beans and oven baked potatoes.
TIP: To serve with baked potatoes, add your seasoned potatoes in the oven to start baking as you begin browning your chicken. This way the potatoes will be ready at the same time your chicken is cooked.