By MELBA
It’s winter season here in New Zealand and winter to me means that I want steaming hot, comforting food. That’s where this dish comes in.
This oven-easy dish is pretty easy to put together and although it takes 40 minutes to get it to the table, it only really takes 10 minutes because for the other 30 minutes, it is happily cooking away on its own in the oven. An easy 5 minute vegetable side dish would leave you with a good 25 minutes to just chill and relax…perhaps check your social media and sip on a white wine, lol.
This easy chicken casserole has a delicious and lip-smacking, creamy reddish hued sauce that pairs well with cauliflower mash or perhaps some freshly baked keto bread or cauliflower rice. I had mine with a side of stir-fried broccoli and fought with hubby for the extra sauce.
In this recipe I used boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets as they are a very succulent chicken cut, but this dish lends itself well to any cut of chicken…drumsticks, leg quarters would be fabulous, chicken thighs (bone-in), or even chicken breast fillets.
The olives really give you that hit of piquancy that leaves you wanting more, and they also add a lovely salty and fatty hit to the dish.
And as an extra word of advice…if you have access to a microwave at work, I highly recommend making extra portions as it would be delicious heated up for lunch at work the next day.
This truly is a dish that your family will be asking you to make over and over again, and don’t be surprised if they start licking their plates.
INGREDIENTS – for 4 servings
4 | Boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets (approx. 130g each) |
100g | Cream Cheese |
1 C | Chicken Stock |
1tsp | Himalayan Pink Salt |
1tsp | Cracked Black Pepper |
1Tb | Olive Oil |
½ tsp | Paprika |
½ tsp | Smoked Paprika |
50g | Onion, sliced |
3Tb | Tomato Purée |
100g | Pitted Green Olives (in brine) |
1-4Tb | The Olive brine liquid (optional) |
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F.
- Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the chicken fillets.
- Add the olive oil to an iron skillet or non-stick pan over high heat and brown both sides of the chicken fillets. Remove the fillets and place into your casserole/baking dish.
- Reduce the heat to low and in the same pan add the sliced onion. Sauté till soft and translucent but take care not to burn them. Add the chicken stock to deglaze the pan and then add the cream cheese.
- Continue to simmer and stir until the cream cheese has melted to form a velvety sauce (use a whisk to break up any lumps).
- Stir in the tomato purée, ½ tsp of paprika and ½ tsp of smoked paprika and, if adding, 1-4Tb of the olive brine (this adds a salty piquancy that makes your taste buds sing).
- Pour the sauce over the top of the chicken fillets and toss in the green olives.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or till the chicken fillets are cooked through.
- Serve with your favourite side dish and enjoy!
