Gluten Free Chicken Casserole

It's great that we coeliacs are able to find gluten free chicken stock cubes, but due to my pepper allergy, it was a while before I found ones without that in them. This coeliac recipe comes from that period and though I do have pepper free chicken stock cubes at my disposal, I find that the flavour is better by making this the old fashion way, getting the flavour from the skin and bones.

This is a deliciously rich, full flavoured gluten free chicken casserole that is perfect for those wintery dark, cold nights.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken (I prefer cornfed for the flavour) or 6 Or More Pieces Of Chicken On The Bone. (You can add breasts, but you need the bones for the flavour unless you are using gluten free chicken stock.)
1  Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Large Onion
125g Button Mushrooms
150g Chantenay Carrots
2 Courgettes
6 Tablespoons of Tomato Puree
200ml Dry White Wine
4 Garlic Cloves
400ml Water
2 Heaped Tablespoons of Tarragon and Parsley
1 Heaped Tablespoon of Smoked Paprika and Turmeric
Salt

Directions:

1. Clean and section the chicken, don't remove the skin.
2. Peel and slice the onion, peel carrots and halve (if using regular carrots cut into smaller pieces), wash and cut the courgette into chunks, leave mushrooms whole (if using button). Peel the garlic and mince.
3. Preheat your oven to 190C
4. Heat a large pan or wok on a high heat and add the olive oil.
5. Once the oil is hot, put the chicken into the pan skin sides down.
6. Add the tarragon, parsley, smoked paprika and garlic.
7. Turn the chicken so all sides are sealed.
8. Fry the chicken until is sealed and golden.
9. Transfer the chicken into a casserole dish (preferably one with a lid, but you can also use tin foil to cover) and cover.
10. Add the onion, courgette, mushrooms and carrots to the hot pan and stir.
11. (At this stage you can either get rid of some of the fat from the chicken skin that is in the pan or skim the casserole later.)
12. Add the water, wine and tomato puree to the pan containing the vegetables and stir.
13. Simmer for 5 minutes then transfer everything from the pan to the casserole dish containing the sealed chicken.
14. Cover and cook for 2 hours.

That's the old fashioned way to do it, using the bones and skin to flavour the casserole, but if you want to take the easy route you can use gluten free stock cubes.

This is a meal in itself but if you wanted to add a side dish, it would work well with mash or a jacket potato, boiled rice would also fit well.

Enjoy!