What has happened to my Chicken Casserole :(

sunni

Hello

Well I'm kinda new to cooking and loads of learning yet to do.

I got a recipe online for a Chicken Casserole - here's what I done.

I pan fried chicken breast fillets (cut up in smaller pieces) until brown then transferred to casserole dish in oven. Then I fried onions and it said to add 500ml chicken stock (knorr chicken stock cube) to the pan with tomato puree and carrots. So simmered that for about ten minutes then said transfer all to the oven and cover and cook for about an hour. Said to check it at times as you may need to add more chicken stock.

After the hour I looked at it and the chicken was well cooked but the gravy/sauce or whatever you call it looked greasy. Sorry hope I'm describing this right lol It just looked greasy/fatty and I'm not sure what to do?

Don't want to waste all this chicken but the sauce just ain't right and I don't know what to do?

Also the sauce needs thickened and how do I do that?

Thanks alot, really appreciate any help as I don't want to waste this.

LMCD

have you got cornflour? thats for thickening sauces.

sunni

Yes I've cornflour so will add some. Will this help with the greasy/fatty look of it?

BitterAndTwisted

Please don't worry about the liquid looking greasy. Chicken breasts actually have the least amount of fat on them compared to the rest of the bird, so I'm sure that it's all right.

Spoon the liquid into a saucepan and add a teaspoon or two of cornflour (or ordinary flour if you haven't any) give it good stir while it's heating and once it's thick add it back to the casserole dish.

Good for you for giving cooking from scratch a try! I hope this is the beginning of a whole new culinary life for you and yours. Experimenting, getting things wrong and learning is all part of the fun.

born_blonde

Did the chicken have skin on? If so it may be chicken fat. If not you have probably used a bit to much oil frying the chicken and then the onions. Have you got time to take it off the heat and take out most solids if so the remaining liquid will settle with the oil at the top which you can then spoon out. Cornflour ( mixed with a liquid - water-wine whatever) will absorb a bit of the fat but not if its a lot. I've even been know to use a slice of bread to float on top to absorb excess oil. It really depends how much there is. The Bisto gravy mixes in jars will also work for thickening.

sunni

Thanks everyone for the help My neighbour had walked in and she just said to add cornflour to the the casserole - done that and no greasy look now and sauce is thicker. It was chicken breast fillets I used in this dish.

Am actually enjoying cooking even though I'm still learning but suppose it's trial and error. Least I know now how to thicken sauces. That greasy look worried me but the cornflour done the trick.

So for again when thickening sauces is it ok to just add the cornflour to the actual dish as opposed to spooning out the liquid into a saucepan and adding it that way?

Sublime_2

I usually take the skin off mine, if thats any help.

anguk

sunni wrote: »

So for again when thickening sauces is it ok to just add the cornflour to the actual dish as opposed to spooning out the liquid into a saucepan and adding it that way?

When I want to thicken something I normally put a teaspoon or two of cornflour (depending on how runny the sauce is) into a small bowl/ramekin, add a little bit of cold water and stir so the cornflour dissolves, then I just add it to the sauce. I don't bother with the saucepan.

Fruball

anguk wrote: »

When I want to thicken something I normally put a teaspoon or two of cornflour (depending on how runny the sauce is) into a small bowl/ramekin, add a little bit of cold water and stir so the cornflour dissolves, then I just add it to the sauce. I don't bother with the saucepan.

Thats what I do too. Remember to stir briskly or you may get lumps

cat_smith

sunni don't add flour directly or it will clump. As suggested, add a couple of teaspoons of cold water to flour until slightly liquid, then you can add straight in.

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, I only suggested that Sunni decant some of the liquid into a separate container in case s/he got it all lumpy and panicked.

Now you know how to make casserole the next time you can use chicken portions instead of those really expensive breast fillets. How did it taste after all your effort?

I think you could progress onto something else after your current success. What do you fancy?