Crusty Chicken Casserole

This is a wonderful recipe that can be prepared in not too much time, most of the time is the long cooking time to get the yummy crusty top on this casserole. I make this with whole BBQ chicken that you can get from your supermarket, but the other night when I had planned to do this, they had sold out, so I had to buy chicken breasts instead. It was a real pain as I was late coming home from work anyway and then I had to cook the chicken. I also could not get a can of cream of chicken soup so I had to buy a knorr sachet and make the chicken soup as well so you can imagine the time this added to an already late dinner. Oh well it was really good and tasty in the end and we all enjoyed it even if it was late. I usually have left overs when I make this as there are only 3 of us. I just store the leftover in the fridge and then I reheat in the oven so you still have the crusty top.

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Ingredients

1 BBQ Chicken
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Onion, diced
1 Stick celery, diced
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Large shallot, diced
4 Bacon rashers, chopped
100g Mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 Can cream chicken soup (500ml) (I used a 570ml knorr sachet as this is all I could get.)
180ml Sour cream
2 Fresh ears corn cob (550g) (divided use)
1 Cup firmly packed gruyere cheese

Cheese Batter

1 Cup self raising flour
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup milk
1 Cup firmly packed gruyere cheese
1 Ear corn (from the 2 listed above.)
2 Tablespoons parsley
3 Tablespoons panko flakes

Method

1. Remove chicken from bones, chop meat roughly. Cut the cor kernels from one ear of corn.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan add onion, celery, garlic and shallot, cook, until onion is almost soft, add extra tablespoon butter, add sliced mushrooms and cook until mushrooms soften.

3. In a small pan cook bacon until crisp, drain on absorbent paper.

4. In a large pan combine, soup, sour cream, onion and mushroom mixture, bacon, corn and chicken, stir until heated through, add cheese and stir until cheese is melted.

5. Transfer ingredients to a casserole dish, spread cheese batter over the top of the casserole, sprinkle with panko flakes, bake in a moderate oven 40-45 Min's until you have a nice brown crunchy top.

Cheese Batter

1. In a bowl combine flour, eggs, milk and combine (I use a bar mix for this)

2. Remove corn kernels from the second ear of corn

3.. Stir in cheese, corn and parsley until well combined.

4. Spread this over the top of casserole and sprinkle panko flakes over the top.

To Serve: Spoon casserole into a bowl and garnish with extra chopped parsley if desired.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.