Jean Butler's Cookbook: Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan - Before the Sauce

Thanks to a buy-one-get-one coupon to Metropolitan Market for chicken breast, I had the opportunity to make a scrumptious divan! (I've been having fun calling it the "Dee-Vaughn")

This type of dish feels retro to me, like something out of Mad Men. The taste was good, and I went pretty light on blanching my broccoli so there was plenty of texture. If you really cooked the broccoli or went with frozen..i think this could easily turn into a mush-bomb. I went with only a bit of shredded cheese, and I am glad Debbie mentioned that she always uses the lemon juice (so funny that Jean says here she never does!).

I assembled this ahead of time, some of the tips on the internet said it would be OK. So, because I took it from the fridge I decided to cook it a little longer, 45 minutes at 350. The recipe doesn't specify if it should be covered or not, so I covered it for the first bit and then uncovered during the last few minutes to really melt the top...mmmmm....

Sorry about the lighting on the finished product picture, it looked much better than that in real life :)

A side note...this turns out very large, make sure you invite friends over to help eat it!

Chicken Divan

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breasts, boiled until tender, seasoned, removed from bone and cut into strips
1 or 2 bunches of broccoli, lightly salted and cooked (be careful not to overcook or the divan will be mushy)
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted, mixed with:
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted, and:
1 cup mayonnaise, flavored with:
curry powder to taste -- from 1 tsp to a tablespoon
a little chicken stock if you want a thinner sauce (I never do)
Lemon juice if desired. (I don’t use it)

Directions:

Arrange broccoli florets and chicken strips on the bottom of casserole in layers to the top, pour over the sauce. Some cooks top with grated yellow cheese (or even Parmesan) but I think this destroys the taste of the curry. Bake in moderate oven till bubbly, about 1/2 hour.