Sherry Chicken and Mushroom Casserole Recipe / Casserole Recipe / Guest Post by Abbe Townsend

Today I have a special guest Abbe Townsend, she is the proud owner of the blog Abbe's Cooking Antics

A space where I often visit, drool, sit back and think wish I got some right now!To me it is somehow soothing and comforting to see such creamy & delectable hardy meal. Nothing complicated about the recipes that you have to break ur head to get the ingredients.The pictures are clean of any distracting props. Food is the star there always glistening with goodness that one would just want to dig in right away.

If you don't belong to the finicky group of eaters and believe in wholesome food indulgence then Abbe's is a must visit space.There are so many filling soups and pasta dishes that you will be spoilt for choice. Let me not pick a few but here is the recipe Index for you to have a look .

Abbe is  widely popular in the Tastespotting site and people just flock to her space because the food pictures are really inviting,something not arranged in a fancy setting  for a shot but most often a glimpse of how it would look on a real dining table.Something people would like to make on a daily basis  without too much slogging. Infact Creamy leek and bacon pasta bake topped the site chart on page 1 itself as most favorited of that month. I honestly believe the realistic presentation draws a visitor to her space as the recipe is promising and the results are easy to achieve.

If you think that is not special enough then wait until you read Abbe's recipe introductions.The write ups are always so witty that it leaves the readers light hearted. Read this.

Over to Abbe...

Hello there, I have to say first of all that I was chuffed to bits to be asked by Meena to do a guest post, and slightly intimidated - her food is always so very beautiful and enticing. Thankyou, Meena for this wonderful opportunity!

1. Tell me more about you...

Well, I'm 41 years young and have been cooking since I was about 3 years old when my mum and dad bought me a toy cooker and a packet of cake mix. When I left school I went to catering college for two years and have mostly worked throughout the leisure and catering industries in a variety of jobs ever since. I live in the beautiful county of Cornwall in the UK (with my hubby and son) and couldn't imagine living anywhere else... except when it rains. I love food and cooking, but don't always have the time to indulge. When I'm not cooking, or blogging, I can usually be found in the garden with a good book and a glass of wine.

2. What type of food do you cook on weeknights.

I have a slight obsession with alternating rice, pasta and potato throughout the week - so it could be anything from a curry or risotto to a pasta bake or simple roast dinner. Mostly it depends on what I have that's fresh that needs to be used up the quickest and how much time I have available. I absolutely love to cook and eat vegetarian food, but can usually only manage to swing that past my hubby once a week or so unless I tell him fibs. He eats so fast he doesn't always notice!

• Chicken, Pineapple and Coconut Curry
• Spinach and Chestnut Mushroom Risotto
• Chicken Pizza Pasta Bake

3. How do you plan for a blog post?

Ummm... I don't. I cook whatever I want to eat. If it looks and tastes good enough to share, I cook it again (not immediately, that would be dull), writing the recipe as I go, photograph it.... then upload everything necessary to my blog and sit and stare at a blank page for a few minutes (or hours)... then write whatever springs most naturally to mind. Sometimes it's relevant to the recipe and other times not so much. I think the most indepth thing I do, is hunt through recipes in books and online for inspiration on how best make use of whatever ingredients I currently have available. Sometimes I don't even do that.

4. Which part of blogging do you enjoy the most?

I fall in and out of love with blogging, because there's far more involved than just cooking a meal, taking a few photographs and writing it all down and it can get a bit tedious at times. However, I absolutely love sharing my successes (and sometimes my failures too!) with friends, family and complete strangers. I love getting feedback, and making new friends and seeing what everyone else in the food blogging world is getting up to. So the short answer would be "Community".

5. Which are the best recipes your family and friends enjoy the most that you would like the readers to try?

I've had some great feedback from my loved ones on some of the following recipes. Happily I love these dishes too so cook them fairly often!

• Butternut and Bell Pepper Curry
• Chicken and Three Pepper Goulash
• Creamy Seafood Stew
• Rustic Mulligatawny Soup

Thanks again, Meena, for giving me this great opportunity to share with your readers and for waiting so patiently for me to come up with the goods!

Sherry Chicken and Mushroom Casserole Recipe

Serves 4

Prep time - 40 minutes

Cooking time - 50 minutes
Total time - 1hr 30 minutes

You will need

A large frying pan/skillet with lid

Ingredients

25g dried procini mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil

500g uncooked chicken breasts - chopped into chunks

salt and pepper

2 onions - finely chopped

250g chestnut mushrooms - finely chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic - crushed
150ml sherry

300ml chicken stock
150ml creme fraiche

small bunch fresh parsley - chopped

Method

• Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in 100ml of boiling water (from a kettle) for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat the olive oil in the pan and sear the chicken in batches. Season with salt and pepper, then remove form the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Cook the onions until soft, then add the chestnut mushrooms.
• Strain the porcini mushrooms and retain the liquid. Roughly chop the porcini and throw into the pan. Add the garlic and thyme.
• Turn up the heat and add the sherry. Cook over a high heat and then add the chicken pieces and any juice. Add the stock and strained mushroom liquid. Stir well.
• Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then gently stir in the creme fraiche and chopped parsley.
• Serve immediately with brown rice and garlic bread.

Thank you so much Abbe,for obliging to do a guest post for me .Wish your blog all the good luck.Hope you succeed in all your endeavors in the years to come.

Dear readers Abbe's Cooking Antics has all the social media windows open so do shower your likes.

Hope you guys liked the special edition guest post.Do write back to me.

Meena