Chicken Casserole with Béchamel Sauce

Chicken and vegetables

1. Boil the chicken thighs until cooked through. Put the washed thighs, skin on, into a pot.

   

   Pour in 2 l of cold water and simmer the meat for 20 mins, then let it cool until you can handle it. You don’t need spices or salt. If the chicken is good quality, you’ll get an excellent broth for risotto, so keep it.

   

2. Shred the meat. Remove the skin and bones from the thighs; the neighborhood cats and dogs will be thrilled with the leftovers, I’ve checked! Pull the meat apart by hand into fibers. Don’t make them too long: if needed, tear them into pieces 2-3 cm long. If you boiled a whole chicken, take all the meat off the carcass in the same way and pull it into fibers and pieces.

   

3. Soften the onion, pepper and garlic. Peel the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Melt 30 g of butter in a skillet over medium heat, chop the onion fairly small and fry it in the butter until soft. Dice the pepper, about the size you would for Olivier salad. Add the pepper and finely chopped garlic to the fried onion and stew the vegetables under a lid for about 15 mins, until soft.

   

Béchamel sauce

4. Cook the flour in the butter. In another skillet over medium heat, melt a piece of butter, about 30-40 g. When the butter starts to bubble, add the flour, 1 heaped tbsp. Mix the butter and flour thoroughly so there are no lumps.

   

5. Pour in the milk and cook the sauce. Stirring the butter and flour constantly, pour in cold milk; good store-bought milk with 2.5-3% fat works well. Keep adding milk until the béchamel is the consistency of thick sour cream. If the sauce is too thin, add some flour; if it’s too thick, add more milk. Turn the heat down to low: the sauce should simmer for 4-5 mins, stirring, and then it’s ready. We don’t season the sauce for this casserole, but you can add a little salt and a pinch of nutmeg and black pepper if you like.

   

Assembling and baking

6. Combine the chicken with the vegetables. Add all the shredded chicken to the skillet with the vegetables. Season with a little salt and ground black pepper. Mix everything well and warm it through under a lid for 5 mins. Then add 2 tbsp of the finished béchamel sauce and stir again.

   

7. Layer the filling and sauce in a baking dish. Choose a ceramic or glass baking dish that is big enough to hold all the filling and sauce, and grease the whole inside with a piece of butter. If the dish has fairly high sides, plan on 2-3 layers of chicken and vegetable filling. Spread some of the filling over the bottom and level it with a spoon or spatula, pressing it down slightly.

   

   Spread béchamel over the filling. Be sure to save about 1.5 times as much béchamel for the top as you use for each inner layer; the top should be nice and thick. Smooth out the béchamel and add the second layer of filling. Alternate layers of filling and sauce until the whole casserole is built.

   

8. Cover the top with sauce and cheese. Generously spread all the remaining béchamel over the top of the casserole. Don’t leave any gaps.

   

   Now, as you prefer, brush the sauce with a beaten egg or sprinkle it with grated cheese. I love a baked cheese crust, so I use cheese. Sprinkle it evenly with no gaps. By the way, press the cheese down a little: when sprinkled, it forms a fluffy layer.

   

9. Bake until golden. Put the dish in an oven preheated to 180-190°C. The casserole is made entirely of ready-to-eat ingredients, so it won’t be “raw”. Go by the color of the top: as soon as it starts to turn golden, the dish is done. Since a good part of the time goes to heating it through, total baking time can be 30-40 mins.

   

Serving

10. Slice the casserole and serve hot. Take the dish out of the oven and put it on a board; be careful, it’s very hot. Be sure to loosen the casserole from the sides of the dish and cut it into portions with a sharp knife, preferably straight down so the layers don’t get squashed. Transfer the portions to plates with a spatula.

    Serve right away while the casserole is hot; there’s no need to reheat it, especially if you used cheese. If you like, add a little extra pepper, which tastes good. As a sauce, we usually serve plain soured milk or thick yogurt with it. It’s a tradition that comes from moussaka. You can sprinkle it with finely chopped parsley.

    

    For the filling you can use more onion and pepper, and add eggplant or even potato. Sometimes quite exotic vegetables that aren’t too juicy are added. You can also serve a more elaborate sauce, such as tzatziki or a blue cheese sauce, but they have a pronounced flavor.