It's recipe week this week at Reenigne blog. Not my usual fare, but not completely without precedent either. Some of these recipes (including this one) are from my mother, others I've made up or adapted myself.
- 1 onion peeled & chopped
- 1 carrot peeled & chopped
- 3 sticks of celery washed & chopped
- about 2 tbsps oil
- about 2 tbsps flour
- 1lb chicken
- 1 chicken (or vegetable if vegetarians are joining in!) stock cube stock cube dissolved in 10 - 15 fl oz boiling water
- handful frozen peas &/or sweetcorn
- a few mushrooms sliced
- about 2fl oz cream
If the chicken is raw cut it into bit size bits and fry it in oil 'til it's browned. It doesn't have to be cooked through at this stage. Remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon to drain the oil off. Now fry the onion, carrot & celery in the oil 'til they just start to brown but you don't want them too dark. Add the flour and stir it in until it coats the vegetables and cooks a bit. Add the liquid gradually, - stirring all the time and bring to the boil still stirring. It should thicken.
Add the peas, sweetcorn and mushrooms. If you're feeding vegetarians, separate out their bit and add the chicken to the rest. You could add other vegetables or extra mushrooms to the vege bit. Season with salt & pepper and simmer the whole lot until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables
are tender. If it's not thick enough you can add some cornflour mixed with water to make it thicker. Add the cream at the end. If you've got any herbs bung them in too and it'll be even yummier.
Cook the rice in a separate pan while the whole thing is cooking.
You can adapt it as you see fit - put in leftover sausages for example or add a bit of chopped up bacon with the onion etc if you're all meat eaters, or serve it with pasta instead of rice.