Sarah and Mike… Probably

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 90 minutes

Serves 8

What you need:

1 whole free range chicken
 2 stalks celery
 1 leek
 2 onions
 3 carrots
 2 cloves garlic
 2 bay leaves
 sprig thyme
 sprig rosemary
 2 maris piper or similar potatoes
 2 large sweet potatoes
 5 mushrooms
 to taste crème fraiche
 8 dried apricots
 1 lemon

What to do:

Place the chicken in a large pot along with one carrot (roughly chopped), a stalk of celery (roughly chopped), a leek (roughly chopped), an onion (roughly chopped) and one clove of garlic (crushed).
Cover the chicken in boiled water and add the thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Bring to the boil on the stove top then turn down and leave to simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
While the chicken is cooking you can set about preparing the veg for the casserole. Peel and roughly chop the potatoes and carrots, slice the onion and celery and crush a clove of garlic (keep together and separate), slice the mushrooms and chop the apricots into halves or quarters.
Remove the whole chicken when cooked and place in a large flat dish - let the juices flow out then tip them back into the pot and leave the chicken to cool down.
Using a sieve poor the liquid containing all the veg and herbs into another pan or bowl and throw away the contents of the sieve (ie all the cooked veggies and herbs) - you have now made some very tasty stock!
Using the big pot again, gently fry the onion, garlic and celery until the onion is clear - best way to gently do this is to turn the heat down very low and put the lid on, checking every minute or so.
Add all the other veggies, pour in the stock and add a bay leaf and the zest of a whole lemon and the dried apricots. You may not need all the stock so don’t use it all at this stage as you can use it to make a soup or risotto or just freeze it to use another day.
Again, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and leave to simmer with the lid on.
Meanwhile, dissect the whole chicken removing all the meat. Throw the meat in the pot with the veggies then leave to simmer away until the potatoes are soft with the lid off.
Serve with crème fraiche and a jacket potato.
This chicken casserole is absolutely perfect for babies who love the sweetness of it.

Recipe by: McGing

Seasonality: carrots are in season from May - December