A flavourful, warming and hearty chicken stew that goes great made over the stove top or in a slow cooker.

INGREDIENTS

• 400g chicken breasts or thighs*
• 25g butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 or 5 large potatoes, washed and chopped into large chunks (skin on)
• 250g mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup cream
• Handful fresh rosemary leaves, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried rosemary)
• Handful fresh thyme, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried thyme)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp flour
• Salt and pepper to taste

* You can either dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces, or if you are slow cooking you can leave them whole (once it has cooked it will be super tender and you will be able to shred it with a fork).

METHOD

In a large, heavy based frying pan or stock pot, melt the butter. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms, fry until tender. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on the outside.

Add chicken stock, white wine, cream, rosemary, thyme, flour, mustard and bay leaves, stir to combine. Add potatoes then place a lid over the top, or put everything into your slow cooker.

For a slow cooker you can choose to set between 6-8 hours.

If cooking on the stove top, bring the sauce to a boil, stirring every now and then to ensure it doesn't burn, then reduce the heat to simmer. You can serve once the chicken is cooked through, but if you prefer it to be more tender allow it to cook for longer.

Once cooked, season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaves. Serve as-is or with freshly made rice.

TIP: Adding rice to these leftovers is a great, low budget way of bumping up the quantity of food to make more meals.