CHEATER'S CHICKEN

"The ambition of every good cook must be to make something very good with the fewest possible ingredients." - Urbain Dubois

Do you ever get the days when you feel like having a nice meal, you couldn’t be bothered going to a restaurant, you dislike fast food that you get at the take-away places of phone for and yet you don’t have the energy or inclination to cook a meal from scratch? We do, and it is those days that “Cheaters’ Cuisine” comes to the rescue. I call “Cheaters’ Cuisine” the kind of food that looks and tastes as though you’ve spent ages cooking it, yet it is very simple to prepare, provided you cheat a little and you buy some ingredients ready cooked, processed or packaged. Here is a winter warmer, perfect for the weekend…

CHEATER’S CHICKEN CASSEROLE

• 1 supermarket roast chicken (with stuffing)
• 1 can of mushroom pieces in butter sauce
• 1 small can of corn kernels (optional)
• 1 sachet of French onion soup
• 350 mL of cream
• Chopped rosemary, thyme
• Ground nutmeg, mace
• Pepper and salt to taste

Let the chicken cool and remove the skin and bones. Take the meat and chop it in small bite-sized pieces in a casserole pot, shredding the stuffing over the meat. Add the mushrooms, corn (if you like it – I’m not very partial to it) and the cream. Dissolve the soup in some water and add it to the casserole. Season with the herbs, spices, salt and pepper. Stir well, cover the casserole and bake in a preheated oven at 180-200˚C for ≈30-45 minutes until well cooked.

Serve over boiled rice, cous cous or polenta. Sure it’s not lo-cal, but it’s winter and we need the energy!
Have a great weekend!