Spare Veges Chicken Casserole With Puy Lentils

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 175 g puy lentils, rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 liter cold water
• 1 vegetable stock, cube crumbled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 700 g chicken, bone in portions
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 200 g bacon, chopped roughly
• 4 teaspoons dried thyme
• 3 cups assorted fresh vegetables, roughly chopped (see note above)
• salt & pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup of good quality vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon softened butter
• 4 teaspoons flour
• 100 ml cream

Recipe

• 1 heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• 2 place the lentils, bay leaf, water and crumbled stock cube in a saucepan. heat until just boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. drain and set aside.
• 3 whilst the lentils are cooking, heat 1t of the olive oil in a stove top to oven pan (like le creuset etc).
• 4 brown the chicken & remove from the pan.
• 5 saute the onions & garlic in the same pan until translucent. remove from the pan.
• 6 add the bacon (and the extra olive oil if necessary) and brown.
• 7 return the chicken & onions/garlic to the pan & add the thyme, vegetables & lentils. stir to combine.
• 8 add salt & pepper to taste, along with the bay leaves and stock (because i have a le creuset pan i don't need as much stock, however you may wish to add a little bit more during cooking).
• 9 cover and cook for 30 minutes.
• 10 make a paste with the flour & butter, and after 30 minutes whisk this through the casserole to thicken. return to the oven and cook for another hour, or until the vegetables are just softened.
• 11 stir through the cream, grind over extra black pepper if necessary, and serve.