Creamy Mustard Chicken and Mushroom Casserole

Had leftover cream from when I made the chocolate cake for my friend's engagement bbq, so I decided to make a creamy sorta dish. I don't use cream much in my cooking, and I have never made a casserole before, so this was certainly an experience.

It turned out quite yummy actually, considering that I am not too fond of creamy things. In fact, this tastes quite similar to the chicken filling for the filo parcels I made before using plain yoghurt. I like yoghurt more than cream, and it is a lot more healthy than cream, so I'll keep that in mind the next time a savoury recipe calls for cream.

Ingredients

600g skinless and boneless chicken breast fillets, each piece cut into thirds
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced/chopped
250 gm mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup cream
1 tbsp mustard
3/4 cups chicken stock
juice from half a lemon (save the lemon rind for use later)
salt and pepper to taste
parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Brown the chicken in 2 batches, with some olive oil in a pan and set aside.
2. Fry the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft.
3. Add mushrooms and cook until soft, and the liquids are slightly reduced.
4. Add cream, chicken stock, mustard and lemon juice and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the browned chicken to the veges and bring to a boil. Season to taste with pepper and salt, then remove from heat. Add the lemon rind to the pot.
6. Transfer everything to a casserole pot (with lid on) and place in the oven for 45 minutes.
7. Stir through parsley

Serve with mashed potatoes and veges. I made mashed the potatoes with some chopped bacon, chopped garlic and chives - it was quite a nice change from plain mash. There was enough leftover casserole for two more meals - I served it with fruity couscous for one meal, and plain brown rice for the other meal. I can say with certainty that this dish goes well with couscous, rice and mashed potatoes. I'm sure it'd go well with pasta as well.