The recipe I bring you today has appeared at our dinner table several times lately, mostly because it helped use up some leftovers from the fridge on days when I had been busy packing and sorting. As usual, this recipe leaves plenty of room for you to play around with flavours or ingredients you have on hand.
I start by removing the meat from an already cooked BBQ chicken. I find this is easiest to do while the chicken is still warm. Some potatoes are par-boiled before being peeled and sliced. I also slice half an orange sweet potato (kumara) wafer thin using my V-slicer (aka mandolin). Half of each potato is arranged over the base of a baking dish.
To make the chicken filling I sauté chopped bacon, then make a sauce around it with a splash of white wine, chicken stock, milk and mustard. In goes some finely chopped zucchini and the shredded chicken before spreading the mixture over the potatoes. The remaining potatoes are arranged over the filling.
I like to scatter some breadcrumbs and a little cheddar cheese over the top for a crunchy finish.
Chicken Bake with Potatoes Ingredients
serves 6-8
Below the recipe, I have listed some ideas for alternatives. Perhaps you can come up with some more to share….
½ – ¾ (400g) barbeque chicken, meat chopped and skin and bones discarded
1kg potatoes
250g sweet potato (kumara), thinly sliced
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
80g shortcut bacon, fat removed, chopped
2 tablespoons spelt flour
¼ cup dry white wine (optional)
1 ¼ cups chicken stock, or water plus ½ onion free stock cube
¼ cup milk, lactose free if required
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ medium zucchini, finely chopped
¾ cup fresh wheat-free breadcrumbs
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
Chicken Bake with Potatoes StepsÂ
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Place unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with water; bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes until just starting to become tender. Drain and peel when cool enough to handle, and cut into 5mm slices.
To make the chicken filling, heat oil and butter in a fry pan and cook bacon for 3-4 minutes until just starting to brown. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add wine and stir well, then continue adding the stock and stirring to form a smooth sauce. Stir in the milk and mustard. Add the zucchini and chicken and mix until evenly combined.
Grease a large baking dish with oil. Arrange half of the sliced potatoes over the base of the dish and then arrange a layer of the thinly sliced sweet potato. Spread the chicken filling over the potatoes. Arrange the remaining sweet potato over the filling and top with the potato slices.
In a small bowl combine the breadcrumbs, grated cheese and olive oil and sprinkle over the potato.
Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when a knife is inserted. If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover with foil. Stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
So here are some options for you:
- Instead of a BBQ chicken brown 500g of chopped chicken fillets.  I recommend thigh fillets as they are more flavoursome than breast fillets and won’t dry out.
- Use pumpkin instead of sweet potato, remembering that both of these vegetables should be limited to ½ cup or less per serve due to FODMAP content.
- Leave out the wine if you prefer and increase the stock.
- If you require gluten free or don’t tolerate spelt, this sauce could be thickened with a couple of tablespoons of corn flour.
- Choose another vegetable in place of zucchini.
- Add a little sour cream to the chicken filling if you tolerate the lactose.
