Crusted Chicken Celery and Cheese Bake

The meat of the chicken is one of the most used and versatile meats in the world. With relatively low cost nearly all parts of the bird can be used for food and the meat can be cooked in many unique ways.

Ingredients

2 tbls butter

1 tbls vegetable oil

1000 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm cubes

1 chopped onion

400 g chopped celery

2 cup chicken stock (500ml)

½ tsp salt

1 tsp white ground pepper

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ cup cream

3 tbls cornflour

Ingredients for topping

3 cups self raising flour (450g)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp white ground pepper

60g butter
175 ml milk

½ cup parsley finely chopped (15g)

⅓ cup cheddar grated cheese (40g)

Method

Preheat oven to 230°C (210°C fan-forced). Heat the oil and butter in a large pot on high. Cook chicken for 4 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Reduce heat to medium. Add celery and cook for approx. 15 min. until celery are soft, then add stock, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Combine cornflour with cream to form a paste and blend in the chicken mix while stirring. Pour chicken mixture into a shallow 3 liter baking dish.

To make topping, place flour, salt, nutmeg in a bowl and combine. Add butter and rub into the flour mix with your hands. Add milk, parsley and cheese and mix until come together. Crumble scone dough over chicken mixture. Bake for approx. 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Note: Leek can be used instead of celery. The dough can be made in advance and allowed to cool in the fridge, then crumbled and placed on top. Or the dough can be made with only 250 g flour and rolled, then cut with a scone cutter and placed on top of chicken mixture, so it looks like cobblestone.