Chicken, spinach, and mushrooms, throw ‘em together into a dish and bake it. It’ll be similar to this casserole.
Casseroles are a wonderful thing: they’re usually quick, are great as leftovers, and the ingredients can be anything from broccoli to leftover fried chicken. This recipe combines chicken, spinach, and mushrooms, for a healthy alternative to the cream-of-mushroom soup style that most of us are accustomed to.
You’ll need the following ingredients:
- 1 - 1.5lb chicken
- 8oz mushrooms (baby bellos here)
- 1/4 onion, chopped
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1lb spinach (frozen or fresh)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 14 oz (1 can) chicken broth (low-sodium)
- salt
- a casserole crust (see below)
Using a sharp object, preferably a knife, turn the chicken into small chunks:
Said chicken is browned in a large skillet, then set aside.
Please wash the mushrooms. Dirt and grit are not very tasty.
Slice the mushrooms, too.
Melt the butter in the now-empty pan and add the onion and mushrooms. Cook until everything is nice and tender.
Throw in a few pinches of salt, too.
Okay, this next part happened too fast for me to take pictures, but basically:
- The flour goes into the pan
- Stir it into the butter to make a roux
- Slowly pour in chicken broth
- Stir until thickened
It should look something like this:
This will be the thickener and binder for our casserole.
In goes the spinach (cook first, if using fresh) as well as the cooked chicken.
Transfer to a casserole dish or some type of oven-safe receptacle:
The crusty topping can be anything you want: cheese, crumbled crackers, discarded shoelaces, etc.
I like Panko, or Japanese bread crumbs, drizzled with a little bit of melted butter. They brown well in the oven.
The casserole spends 15 to 20 minutes in the oven at 300. It should be firm, not watery.
I ate this one with some white rice. It was delicious.
This recipe makes 5-6 servings.
Casseroles are a great way to get rid of leftovers, but what happens if you have leftover casserole? Do you make a casserole casserole? An enigma for the ages…
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February 28th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Excellent! I looked through about 100 web recipes for this kind of dish, but yours was the one I settled on (simple and pictures). It came out great. My whole family loved it, from my 9 month old to my wife.
I added some more veggies and even some cooked linguine before baking. Highly recommended. I really like your blog.
I don’t need to cook cheap, but I like cooking fast, simple, and good. Looks like I’ll be trying your pulled pork recipe next.