british recipe

This creamy chicken casserole is made with potatoes, carrots, leeks and fresh herbs for a wonderful one-pot dinner – make sure you have crusty bread for soaking up the sauce. We&#8217;ve got lots more recipes like this one, take a look at our chicken casserole collection.

Farmhouse chicken casserole with carrots, leeks and potato

olive oil

chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, plus 4 chicken thighs

carrots, sliced thickly

leeks, sliced

small new potatoes,

thyme

single cream

tbsp wholegrain mustard

parsley, leaves chopped

Bunch of fresh chives, snipped

Preheat the oven to 150°C/fan130°C/gas 2. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the chicken pieces, skin-side down, and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until browned. Transfer to a dish and season with salt. Cover and set aside.

If there’s a lot of fat in the casserole, drain some off, leaving just enough to brown the vegetables. Add the carrots and leeks and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just browned. Add the potatoes and herbs and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Season with salt.

Return the chicken pieces to the casserole and add just enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, then transfer to the preheated oven. Cook for about 1 hour.

Return the casserole to the hob and remove the lid. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken and vegetables to a warm serving platter. Cover with foil to keep warm. Bubble the juices over a medium heat for 3–5 minutes to reduce slightly, then stir in the cream. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Stir in the mustard, parsley and chives and some ground black pepper. Taste and season. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables and serve immediately.

The recipe I am sharing today is vert poignant, as it was my mum&#x27;s recipe for Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions, and she made a few jars every November for the Christmas tea table. Why only make these in November? Well, in the UK you start to see small &quot;pickling onions&quot; in the greengrocers and supermarkets from October onwards, and with a view to the Christmas buffet table, and that ubiquitous cheese board, now is the time to make these pickled onions so they have time to &quot;mature&quot; for 6 weeks. If you make them in the first week of November, they will be wonderfully mellow but still crisp and crunchy by the time the festive period starts in earnest. 

These Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions WILL keep quite happily for up to a year in the pantry, as long as it is cool and dark, but they are best eaten with 6 months. Serve these traditional pickled onions with cheese, cold meats, pork pies, ploughman&#x27;s lunch as well as with quiches, flans and salads. They are also great when served with fish and chips, in the style of a proper &quot;Yorkshire Fish Supper&quot;. 

I also have a recipe for pickled shallots here: Christmas in a Jar – Pickled Shallots should you have problems finding small pickling onions.

Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions

kilo onions

pickling vinegar, vinegar

salt

white sugar

pickling spices, OR:

Put all of the unpeeled onions in a...

Put all of the unpeeled onions in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them, leave to steep in the water for 1 minute, before tipping them into a colander to drain.

Place the onions into the bowl again and...

Place the onions into the bowl again and cover them with cold water now.

Peel the skins off the onions, making a...

Peel the skins off the onions, making  a small cut at the root end to ease the skins off.

Once all of the onions have been peeled,...

Once all of the onions have been peeled, layer the peeled onions with the salt in a large bowl, cover them with a clean tea towel and leave them overnight or up to 24 hours in the salt.

The following say, drain and rinse the onions...

The following say, drain and rinse the onions thoroughly, pat them dry and pack them into some clean and sterilised jars.

Pour the pickling vinegar over the onions in...

Pour the pickling vinegar over the onions in the jars, including all the pickling spices, seal the jars and allow to mature for 4 weeks before serving.

Make the spiced pickling vinegar: Pour the vinegar...

Make the spiced pickling vinegar: Pour the vinegar into a large saucepan and add the sugar and the pickling spices. Bring to the boil, then take the vinegar off the heat immediately, cover with a lid and leave to go cold and infuse for 24 hours.

This recipe for Traditional Oxtail Stew is as old as the hills, as my mum and grandmother used to say. It&#x27;s a traditional British stew using a very cheap cut of beef, namely oxtail. 

Oxtail has become very popular again recently, after languishing for a while at the bottom of the butcher&#x27;s list. Both my mum and both grandmother&#x27;s used to use it a lot, as it was a cheap and cheerful cut of meat, although classed as offal. 

Oxtail needs a little care when preparing and takes a long time to cook, in order to render it tender, but this is more than made up for in it&#x27;s flavour, which is wonderfully rich and beefy. 

Today&#x27;s recipe for Traditional Oxtail Stew uses wine as the main cooking liquor, but beer is also great, especially dark beers, stouts and porters such as Guinness.

A tip, as oxtail is very fatty, you can either trim most of the visible fat off before cooking, which can be tricky, or cook it ahead of time, allow it to go cold and skim all the fat off the surface then. You just need to gently reheat it then.

If you have any leftovers, allow it to go cold  and strip the meat off the bone, in order to make oxtail soup. 

I hope you enjoy this traditional British recipe, it&#x27;s real comfort food and is fabulous when served with mashed potatoes and steamed greens, such a cabbage.

Traditional Oxtail Stew 

plain flour

Salt and pepper

oxtail,

rapeseed oil

onions,

small trimmed sticks of celery, diced

carrots,

garlic,

tomato puree

bay leaves

herbs

(375cl) of good red wine

beef stock cube

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas mark 4.

Season the flour with the salt and pepper....

Season the flour with the salt and pepper. Toss the oxtail joints in the seasoned flour until they are coated on all sides.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan...

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan (that has a lid) and brown the oxtail on all sides, do this in batches.

Remove all the browned oxtails from the pan,...

Remove all the browned oxtails from the pan, and set aside.

Add the onions and celery to the pan...

Add the onions and celery to the pan and fry for 2 minutes.

Add the carrots and garlic and fry for...

Add the carrots and garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring all the time.

The add the herbs and the tomato puree,...

The add the herbs and the tomato puree, and stir well before adding the wine and the beef stock. Stir well and add the oxtail back to the pan.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, place...

Season to taste with salt and pepper, place the lid on the pan and cook slowly in the pre-heated oven for 3 hours, until the meat is meltingly tender and is almost falling off the bone.

Serve the oxtail with plenty of the gravy,...

Serve the oxtail with plenty of the gravy, and with mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal greens.

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Farmhouse chicken casserole with ca...

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Top 3 british recipe recipes from across the web

The most viewed british recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Farmhouse chicken casserole with ca...

Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions

Traditional Oxtail Stew

The most viewed british recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine