Chicken Divan

I'd like to share one of my family's favorite recipes with you. This one was handed down to me, goodness, over twenty years ago, by Rob's mom, Barb Sr. She belonged to two bridge clubs and this was a luncheon favorite. I'm thinking this originally came from a Campbell's soup cookbook, probably dating back to the ice age. But it's delicious. And it's easy!


CHICKEN DIVAN

3 10-ounce packages frozen broccoli florets (or spears)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked
2 10 1/2-ounce cans Campbell's cream of chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded or grated
1/2 loaf French bread
1 stick butter, melted

Cook broccoli according to package directions in salted water until tender; drain.

Spread broccoli evenly in a greased (sprayed) 9 X 13-inch glass baking dish.

Layer chicken breast halves on top of broccoli.

Combine soup, mayonnaise and lemon juice; pour over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese.

Combine bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over all.

Bake at 350* for 35 minutes or until heated through.


OK. That's the official recipe. Here's how I make it:


Here are your ingredients. I buy crusty French bread rather than soft. And no, there's no hummingbird nectar in this recipe. (I was whipping up a new batch at the same time I was making this dinner.) Also, you might want to make sure you have milk on hand. I'll explain later. Oh! You also need two cute cross-stitched dish towels, preferably in a nautical theme. Very important.


The very first thing you do is remove the labels from the Campbell's soup cans because those are Labels for Education you're seeing there and if your child's school isn't collecting these, they should be. The elementary school Mandy taught at in Montrose for the last two years built an entire playground with proceeds from the Boxtops and Labels for Education all the parents collected. Everyone in my family saves these and sends them to Mandy.


Make sure you don't overcook the broccoli. Since it's going into a casserole, you don't want it to be mushy. I boil the broccoli for five minutes tops and then quickly drain and rinse it so it will stop cooking.


The original recipe called for two bags of broccoli spears. But we like lots of broccoli and you know what? Your kids will eat the broccoli because the sauce in this dish is so good. :-) Also, I use florets because it's easier to dish this up. Makes no difference. Spears or florets is fine.


I'm also careful to not overcook the chicken. I simply boil it for fifteen minutes in very salty water. Overboiling will result in dry chicken.


The original recipe also calls for simply placing the breast halves on top of the broccoli. But I prefer to cut it into chunks. Again, it's easier to dish up. Either way is fine but keep in mind that if you don't cut the chicken up, you'll obviously have six servings. This dish easily feeds more than six people, especially if some of the people are small people.


Just layer the chicken on top of the broccoli.


One of my favorite kitchen tips is to clean up as you go. I absolutely hate having to tackle a trashed out kitchen after I've eaten a nice dinner and just want to relax. Also, my kitchen and dining room run together and I hate looking at a pile of dirty pots and pans while I'm eating. It just seems tacky to me. My dad taught me to do this when I was a young teen experimenting on my brothers learning to cook.


The sauce is very easy. Here's where the milk comes in. The sauce is thick. Too thick in my opinion, so I always add about half a soup can of milk to thin it a little. You want to spread it evenly over the dish, to the edges.


OK. Those soft bread crumbs don't work for me. I like big fat crunchy bread chunks which I prefer to call croutons. These are exactly the same croutons I make for salads. And I know there are lots of fancy, spicier ways to make croutons, but I keep it very simple. Just cut about half a loaf of French bread into big fat chunks. I usually do this ahead of time so they can dry out a little. They cook better if they're a little dry.


Melt the butter in a large frying pan over pretty high heat. The recipe calls for one stick but I like butter so I use two. These are not health croutons. Oh, OK. You can use pretend butter. The trick is to cook these fast. Otherwise, they'll fall apart and be mushy. I don't like mushy. Also, those Pampered Chef stir-fry paddles are excellent, one of my favorite kitchen things, and I use them all the time. Once the butter is melted and the pan is good and hot, toss the bread chunks into the pan and toss them until they're pretty evenly coated with butter.


You're going to stir-fry these croutons. Don't walk away from that pan. They'll burn in a heartbeat. They should be crisp and brown when you're done.


I lay them on brown paper to drain. Normally I'd lay them on paper grocery bags but I'm completely out of those right now so you're looking at my very last piece of brown mailing paper. Sigh. While these are sitting there is an excellent time to wash up those pots and pans and put them away. At this point in this recipe, my kitchen is looking pretty darn good.


Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the sauce and stick the croutons in the top. You know, the amount of cheese and croutons you use is up to you. I'd use at least what the recipe calls for but you can certainly add more of each. When you taste those croutons, you may agree with me...more is better. :-)


All done. I bake mine for about 45 minutes. Don't cover the dish. Just stick it on the oven rack. I mean, you could cover it I suppose but I'm pretty sure the croutons would get mushy and I don't like mushy. I shouldn't tell you this. Rob ate half this pan for dinner last night. He seriously loves his mother's chicken divan. I don't blame him. It's seriously delicious.


You don't really have to serve anything else with this - I mean, it's vegetables and meat and sauce and cheese and bread - but I served it with asparagus salad and the other half of the French bread, sliced very thin because that bread really was crunchy. I like bleu cheese on my asparagus and Rob likes ranch. :-)

Updated: The very first commenter (thank you Kelly) asked me about the salad. Easy as can be and I freely admit I copied it from a very nice restaurant. You just place cold, crisp chopped lettuce (yes, boring iceberg head lettuce) on a salad plate, top it with canned, drained asparagus spears and your favorite dressing. I think it tastes better with "white" dressing like bleu cheese or ranch. But I might be wrong about that. :-)


Wouldn't you know the Schwan's man rang the bell while I was right in the middle of cooking this. But I love my Schwan's man. And I have pot pies again which is always, always a good thing.

Poor Schwan's man. He's new. I couldn't believe what happened. When he pulled away from our house and made a turn to the next street, apparently he'd not closed one of the doors on the back of his truck very well. That door flew open, frozen food and I mean lots of it went careening down the street. And on top of that, the door sideswiped my neighbor's brand new truck. Poor Schwan's man. It was heartwarming to see all the neighbors come tearing out of their front doors to help him pick up all that frozen food. I wanted to get a photo but the poor man was already completely mortified and embarrassed and I didn't think it would make him feel better to know I was capturing the moment for eternity.

Maybe you'll make this dish for your family or a special luncheon or something. It's also a great potluck dish. I hope you'll come back and tell me what you think. We love it. A lot.