Chicken and Mushroom Casserole with dijon and cream sauce

Chicken and mushroom casserole with dijon and cream sauce

This is a recipe I adapted from a basic recipe I found on taste.com.au - I wanted something that didn't take too much fuss so I turned it into a 'one-pot meal'. The original recipe was for chicken and mushroom sauce, this is my casserole version, I hope you enjoy!

1T nuttelex or butter
1T olive oil
2 chicken breasts  - diced into 2cm cubes
1 medium brown onion - finely sliced
200g middle bacon - fat trimmed and sliced
250g button mushrooms quartered
1/4c plain flour (can substitute for gluten free if required)
1T dijon mustard
1 1/2c salt reduced chicken stock
3/4c light thickened cream
200g green beans cut into 2cm lengths
500g (enough to fill 1/2 your casserole dish) of your choice of root vegetables: potatoes, sweet potato, carrots, swede, pumpkin - diced into 2cm cubes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Dice your root vegetables and place into casserole dish.
Heat nuttelex/butter and oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add chicken and cook until the pieces are golden brown. 
Place into casserole dish on top of the vegetables.
To the frying pan add onion and bacon and cook until onion has softened.
Add mushrooms and cook until they have softened slightly (try not to over cook you still want them firm when you add them to the casserole).
Stir in the flour and mustard and cook for 2 minutes then gradually add chicken stock and continue stirring (you will notice the flour and stock start to combine and thicken). 
Once the sauce is combined well i.e. no flour lumps, gradually add the cream.
Stir through*.
Transfer bacon/mushroom mixture into casserole dish and mix through.
Add lid to the casserole dish and cook for 1 hour.
After an hour, stir through and cook for a further 30 minutes without the lid on (this will help reduce the sauce).
Serve hot.

This dish is great the next day as well!

Note: If you take the root vegetables out of the recipe this can also be used as a pie fillling :)

*If you don't think you have enough sauce to cover the vegetables and chicken in your dish you can add more stock and cream.