Creamy Chicken Casserole with Roasted Veges

3 large Carrots
3 Parsnips
8 Potatoes
Olive Oil

Fresh Oregano
Fresh Rosemary

2 x Large Brown Onions
4 cloves garlic
12 Chicken Skinless Thigh Fillets
1 Tbsp Butter
750 ml Chicken Stock
Baby Spinach Leaves
Swiss Brown Mushrooms sliced
500 ml Lite Sour Cream
Salt / Pepper

Chop veges into bite sized bits and season with salt, pepper, rosemary and oregano. Toss in some olive oil.

Cook sliced onions and garlic in melted butter with rosemary and oregano. Chop chicken into bite-sized bits and add to the cooked onions. Toss on the heat until just starting to cook through.

Convert the onion / chicken etc to an oven pan and add chicken stock and spinach leaves.

Roast the veges and cook the chicken through in the oven. When the chicken is cooked through remove from oven and cover with foil. I cooked the veges at 150 degrees for two hours and the chicken was in for about 1 hour.

Convert the chicken, veges and a 3-4 big spoonfuls of the stock back to a wok or large fry-pan. Add mushrooms and sour cream and warm it through.


... would have been nice with crusty garlic bread or just warm crusty rolls ... but we didn't have that. It was very filling and there were leftovers, but this served 4 adults and two teenage boys! Next time I would use less chicken and have more roasted veges like sweet potato, but the flavour worked. The leftovers could be added to some tortellini or gnocchi ..... it was warm, comfort food ....

Blue Grenadier with Yellow Capsicum and Buerre Pear

2 x large Blue Grenadier fillets.
1 x Lemon
1 x Lime
3/4 cup (ish) Fish Stock
1 Tbsp (ish) Fish Sauce
Olive Oil - use it how you like - little or lots

2 x Yellow Capsicum
2 x Buerre Pears
Lemon Thyme
Basil - a good handful of nice fresh leaves
White wine (I used whatever I was drinking - don't think it matters if it's sauvignon blanc, semillon or chardonnay)


Served with
Roasted Dutch Carrots (I served about 4-5 to each person)
Steamed Asparagus (About 12 spears)
Wok-tossed Shimeji, Enoki and Oyster mushrooms - (doesn't really matter how much - they were an afterthought!)


Season fish with salt and pepper
In a shallow tray which can go in the oven, pour over the fish stock. Stock should just lap the sides of the fish. Drizzle the fish sauce over the top of the fillets. Squeeze juice of one lemon and one lime and grate some zest from both fruits over the fish. Drizzle the lot with olive oil.
Cover and pop in Fridge till you're ready to cook it.

Slice the yellow capsicum finely. Toss with salt, pepper and olive oil over medium heat so that the skin starts to caramelise and it gets nice and soft. Just keep cooking it over a low heat. Add little bits of lemon thyme.
Chop basil and pears into small pieces and add to the capsicum mixture. Keep cooking! When the pear has cooked down, take off the heat and cover.

Wash and take the ends off the dutch carrots, add salt, pepper, olive oil and sprigs of the lemon thyme and roast in the oven for half an hour or 40 depending on how big they are. You want them to be soft and to show caramelisation - nice texture!

At the 15 - 20 minute mark pop the fish in the oven, for about 15 - 20. 180 degrees. I'm never sure of times, so keep an eye on it so it's cooked through but not over-cooked.

Steam the asparagus (i use a microwave steam bag for 3 - 4 minutes). Wok-toss the mushrooms with olive oil, salt / pepper - just a few minutes, then take off the heat.

When it's all getting close to ready, start re-heating the capsicum and pears, and add a splash of white wine and stir it all through, cooking off the alcohol.

Lay the mushrooms on the plate and spread around evenly. Plate the fish in even segments and place the asparagus and carrots over the top. Drizzle the fishy marinade over - just a little bit. Then sppon good size chunks of the capsicum, pear, basil on top.


Serves 4 hungry people.
IT WAS YUM!