| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
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Good
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TBD
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TBD
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This is a new recipe for my freezer this month. It's delicious. I still need to see how it holds up to a third or fourth week in the freezer but, so far so good. It is a baked layered casserole.
Layer 1: sweet potato
Layer 2: chicken
Layer 3: spinach-feta mixture
Layer 4: sweet potato
Layer 5: cheese
Ingredients (8 servings):
60g / 2oz feta cheese
1 cup spinach (I used fresh alternately, use frozen)
1.5 cup sweet potato / yam (about 3-4 medium)
1cup onion
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light sour cream
420g chicken breast thinly sliced
2 tsp corn flour (or 1 tsp corn starch)
2 cups grated mozzarella
Instructions - Layers 1 & 4: Sweet Potato
- Peel the sweet potatoes (or yams or kamara or whatever you want to call them - I used the orange fleshed brown skinned ones though I'm sure you could use whatever similar root vegetable you'd like) and slice into rounds about 1/4" thick (food processor makes quick work of this step).
- Cook the sweet potato sliced until tender. I steamed them for about 15 minutes. You could boil them or roast them.
- Set aside and allow to cool
Instructions - Layer 2: Chicken
- Cook chicken in a heavy bottomed pan with a little oil until the chicken is cooked and browned
- Transfer chicken to a bowl
- Crumble feta into a bowl
- If using fresh spinach, saute it in the chicken pan until wilted and fairly dry and add to the bowl with the feta. If using frozen and thawed spinach, squeeze excess moisture from it before adding to the bowl
- Cook onion and thyme in the same pan. Stir until onion is soft (adding water if needed)
- Add onion mixture to bowl with spinach and feta and stir to combine
Instructions - Layer 2: Chicken Sauce
- In the now empty pan, stir together the sour cream and chicken broth
- Dissolve the corn flour or starch in 1 Tbsp of water and add that to the pan
- Stir continuously, scraping any caramelized bits from the pan, until the mixture boils and thickens
- Add thickened sauce to bowl with the chicken
- Layer the bottoms of the dishes with sweet potato slices. Some overlapping is fine but space is limited so break or cut large pieces smaller to fit.
- Divide the chicken and sauce mixture between the dishes, covering the layer of sweet potatoes.
- Divide the spinach and feta mixture between the dishes, covering the chicken layer
- Add another layer of sweet potato to cover
- Top with shredded mozzarella cheese
Bake in preheated oven at 350 for about 20 minutes - until cheese is melted and lightly browned. To freeze, cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag.
Recipe Adapted from: "Baked Chicken, Kumara and Spinach" in The Australian Women's Weekly: Gluten-Free Cooking.
Calories: 193. Fat 6.5g, Sodium 282mg, Carbs 11g, Fiber 1g, Protein 21g
Portioning Alternatives: Before going into the recipe, a sidetrack about portioning this. I've been cooking and freezing long enough now that I feel fairly confident I'll use any specialized portion cookware I buy so, to make this recipe for freezing, I actually purchased 8 small 1-cup oven-safe dishes and just cooled them, covered with plastic wrap and popped them directly into freezer bags as they were. The dishes were a bit of an investment. I've been considering alternative options and I expect it is probably possible to find suitable foil trays. Or you could use larger pans and just have leftovers. But, if you plan to reheat in the microwave, here's an idea: I think the main purpose of the baking portion of the recipe, beyond blending flavors, is melting the cheese on top. Since everything is already cooked prior to being assembled, you could theoretically skip the pre-freezer baking time and directly assemble these in plastic containers using plastic wrap to keep the shredded non-melted cheese in place and protected from freezer burn. Then, when ready to eat, microwave directly in the plastic container.
