Just had to jot this one down for posterity. I can’t really claim to have ‘invented’ it, but when all my favorite ingredients popped into my head in the form of a casserole, I quickly got my oldest minion (Roly) to be my apprentice before the vision vanished. Roly was apprehensive about baking a ‘made up’ casserole (specially when I said it would be called Roly’s Rustic 5 Cheese Chicken Casserole, as he is not fond of cheese in any form) but when he smelt it in the oven, and later when he tasted its exquisite creaminess, the sweet basil and potato, and the gentle spice of the chorizo, he was sold. It is a firm new family favourite, except for poor old Spindles who has a mental thing against basil, and honestly must have toyed rather sadly with his dinner for a couple of hours! Even though I had taken any basil out of it.


Michelle’s Rustic 5 Cheese Chicken Casserole

Casserole
1 kg cooked chopped chicken
3 chorizo sausages fried and chopped up fine
1-1 and 1/2 cups of your favourite grated cheeses (we used feta, tasty, Parmesan, Mozzarella and Jarlsberg)
4 cups of chopped and roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 onions, chopped and fried till transluscent
1 600ml carton of cream
1 300ml carton of sour cream
2 tbsp chicken stock powder
a handful of basil torn into smaller pieces
Breadcrumb Topping
1 large Turkish bread Or enough to comfortably cover the top of your casserole dish when chopped!
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp chopped chives

Casserole Instructions
Mix up the cream and sour cream and chicken stock powder in a large casserole dish.
Throw in the rest of the ingredients and mix it all together gently so as not to break up the potatoes.

Breadcrumb Topping instructions

Chop the bread up and gently toss with the olive oil and chives in a saucepan over low heat for a couple of minutes.
Then sprinkle over the casserole.Bake at 180 for about 30 minutes or till hot through and topping is golden and crunchy looking.