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Chicken and Cheese Casserole

Name: Chicken and Cheese Casserole
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 600 g Chicken breast; 300 g Cremini mushrooms; 2 medium Onion; 200 g Sour cream, to serve; 2 large Eggs; 200 g Kashkaval (yellow cheese); 20 g Unsalted butter; 2 tbsp Sunflower oil; 1.5 tsp Fine sea salt; 0.5 tsp Ground black pepper; 2 cloves Garlic cloves; 4 sprigs Fresh dill

Chicken breast baked under a blanket of sautéed mushrooms and onions, sour cream custard and melted cheese: a one-dish dinner for the whole table.

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 45 min
Difficulty: Very easy

About this dish

The baked casserole, zapikanka in Ukrainian, is the everyday oven dish of Slavic homes: layers of meat and vegetables bound with eggs and sour cream, finished with cheese. Chicken breast suits it because the sour cream sauce keeps a lean cut moist, and mushrooms with onion supply the savoury depth the breast lacks. Any hard melting cheese works; kashkaval, common across the Balkans, gives a pleasantly salty crust.

Gluten-free
Not vegetarian because of Chicken breast
Contains dairy because of Sour cream, to serve, Kashkaval (yellow cheese), Unsalted butter

Ingredients

6servings

600gChicken breast
300gCremini mushrooms
2mediumOnion
200gSour cream, to serve
2largeEggs
200gKashkaval (yellow cheese)
20gUnsalted butter
2tbspSunflower oil
1 ½tspFine sea salt
½tspGround black pepper
2clovesGarlic cloves
4sprigsFresh dill

Instructions

Cut the chicken breast into 2 cm cubes and season with half the salt and the pepper.
8 min
Tip: Small cubes cook through in the time the cheese needs to brown, so the breast does not dry out.
Fry the sliced onions in oil and butter for 4 minutes, add the sliced mushrooms and fry until their liquid has evaporated and they are golden.
10 min
Tip: Cook off the mushroom liquid completely. Otherwise it floods the casserole and the sauce turns watery.
Whisk the sour cream with the eggs, crushed garlic, chopped dill and the remaining salt.
5 min
Tip: The eggs set the sour cream into a soft custard that holds the chicken together when you slice it.
Spread the chicken in a buttered dish, top with the mushrooms and onions, pour over the sour cream mixture and bake at 190 °C for 30 to 35 minutes until set.
35 min
Tip: Check that the custard no longer wobbles in the centre. That is when the chicken beneath is also done.
Scatter the grated cheese over the top and bake for 10 minutes more until bubbling and golden. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
10 min
Tip: Adding the cheese late keeps it melted and golden rather than leathery or burnt after the full bake.