Chicken Divan

Everyone’s mom has a go-to “casserole”, at least if you’re from the Midwest they do. Well, my mom’s was Chicken Divan.  Right now you might be thinking of cans of questionable cream-of-something-soup. Well, you would be right. I ‘m normally the one to upgrade things like this, or make my own cream-of-something-soup to replace it; this is one of those recipes (like beef stroganoff) that you just don’t mess with. Well, I mess with it a little, but I swear it’s just a little.

What makes this casserole different than your typical bag of frozen this, can of cream of that, is that it’s made with fresh ingredients. It’s poached chicken breasts, freshly steamed broccoli, and a lightly curried cream sauce. Sounds delicious doesn’t it?

Chicken Divan- from the Kitchen of Sue’s Mom.

Ingredients:

2 medium to large heads of broccoli

4 large chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup (light is fine)

¼ cup mayo (light is fine)

½ cup milk (once again, skim is fine)

1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

½ tsp curry powder

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

½ cup bread crumbs

2 Tbs melted butter

Method:

Start by poaching the chicken. In a large pot of boiling water cook the chicken for about 30 minutes or until completely cooked through. This will largely depend on the size of your chicken breasts, check them by cutting into them with a knife, don’t worry about appearance, they are going into a casserole after all. While the chicken cooks, cut the broccoli into spears.

Steam the broccoli until it is fork tender.

In a 9X13 baking dish, arrange the chicken alternating with spears of broccoli. I place two stems of broccoli, florets facing opposite sides, in between each piece of chicken. In a small bowl whisk together soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry powder. Pour over chicken and sprinkle with cheese.

In another small bowl pour the melted butter over the bread crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

A few notes:
-Cat hasn’t eaten this in years- she won’t eat things with warm mayo. But I think after reading this and seeing the pictures even she may reconsider.

-My slight modification is extra curry. The recipe above reflects the original but when I make mine I use a highly mounded ½ tsp of curry. I love curry, what can I say.

-I always serve this with a side of Uncle Ben’s wild rice. It just goes together perfectly.

-My Mom also used to make an excellent version of this on pizza. That’s right- PIZZA. I may have even liked it better than this. She would use a plain pizza crust (which she of course made from scratch) use the curry sauce as the base, and top it with shredded chicken, broccoli florets, and sprinkle it with shredded cheddar. I think I need to make this soon…

-You can make this ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it. Or you can freeze it before you cook it and let it defrost in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before you bake it. I’m mentioning this because this is super common of Midwest style casseroles; they are often made ahead of time or given to neighbors and friends in times of need.

-Sue

Spring Vegetable Risotto

Classifying risotto as a quick and easy dish would be a lie. Here is the silver lining though: yes, risotto takes a full 30 minutes of standing over the stove, but it’s not actually a lot of effort, and the end result looks like you slaved in the kitchen for hours- not a measly 30 minutes. So put all your fears aside and just do it, tackle the risotto! Risotto is the chameleon of the kitchen, you can add practically anything to it, you can add any spices, any type of cheese, any kind of broth- it is endlessly adaptable.

My very lovely boyfriend, whom I adore, does not dig on the veggies as much as I would like, so in the past when I have made risotto I have tried to accommodate that. Well, he was out of town, so I went veggie crazy. In fact, while talking to Cat I had to cut down my list of vegetables I intended to put in this. However, that’s the point- you could add pretty much anything, especially the way I prepare it. In this version I made a basic risotto, roasted a few of the veggies and sautéed a few of them; at the end I mixed them all into the creamy risotto and the result was divine. The vegetables each held their own distinct flavor while the silky cheesy risotto brought everything together. Absolutely to die for.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus

1 medium yellow squash

1 small head broccoli

½ lb (about 10) mushrooms of your choice

1 jar quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained

½ large yellow onion, diced

3 Tbs olive oil, divided

1 Tbs butter

Salt/pepper/spice blend to taste

1 ½ cups Arborio rice

6-8 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Chop the broccoli into small florets. Slice and cube the squash. Cut off the bottom of the asparagus and discard, slice the remaining stalks into 1 inch pieces. In a large roasting pan (or glass baking dish) add the broccoli, squash, and asparagus. Toss with 1 Tbs olive oil, salt, pepper, or spice blend of choice*. Set aside.

Slice mushrooms and drain artichokes. Place in a medium skillet with 1 Tbs (about) olive oil and set on a back burner.

In a medium sauce pan, warm the stock to a simmer. In a cast iron enameled dutch oven (or pot of similar size) add 1 Tbs olive oil, sauté the diced onion until soft. Add 1 Tbs butter, when the butter is melted, add the rice. Lightly toast the rice while stirring for about 1 minute. Adjust the heat to medium, and add ¾ cup wine and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Put the vegetables into the oven, and begin to sauté the mushrooms and artichokes over medium heat. The vegetables will take about 30 minutes to roast while you make the risotto. Once the mushrooms and artichokes are done, keep them warm until the risotto is done.

Over the next 20 to 30 minutes, add the warm broth one cup at a time, allowing each cup to be fully absorbed by the rice before the next addition. It will take approximately 6-8 cups; you will know it’s done when the rice is cooked. Remove from heat and stir in ¾ cup parmesan cheese.

Stir in all the vegetables and serve immediately.

A few notes:

-You could make this with almost any vegetable. Some other suggestions would be: peas, butternut squash, zucchini, roasted cauliflower, carrots or any other vegetables you like.

-This would also be delightful with a bit of goat cheese. You could use ½ cup parmesan and ½ cup goat cheese, or you could prepare as above and add crumbled goat cheese as a topping.

– To make this vegetarian you can absolutely use vegetable broth. I think chicken broth adds more depth of flavor, but whatever you prefer is fine.

– I used my go to spice blend, garlic and herb blend from Frontier Spices. You can use whatever spices you like, or just salt and pepper.

– The wine is optional, it adds a nice additional flavor, but if don’t have wine, or don’t drink wine, you can omit this and still have a delicious risotto.

Vegetable Frittata

So this boyfriend of mine, he really loves meat. Most often when he comes home from the supermarket he has things like a block of cheese, bacon, tater tots, steaks, meat lovers pizza….well…you get the picture. SO his girlfriend (that’s me) is trying not to be 300 lbs, and so when he’s out of town, I eat vegetables, and lots of them. I found this recipe a few months ago on one of the many many food blogs I read obsessively. I had been dying to try it, and I finally made it the other night. Of course, I modified it slightly, and it turned out to be everything I hoped for and then some. One of the things I love about this recipe is her use of eggs and egg whites, it’s a great way to lose some of the fat, but keep the flavor.

Vegetable Frittata modified from iowagirleats.com

Ingredients:

3 whole eggs

4 egg whites

1/4 parmesan cheese (or asiago)

1 sweet potato peeled and cubed

1 small yellow squash cubed

1 cup of broccoli chopped

1 handful of cherry tomatoes

1 Tbs olive oil

2 tsp of seasoning (any blend will do, I used this, spicing is optional of course)

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup of water (+ or minus depending on your cooking methods)

1 small bunch of scallions, chopped

3 oz goat cheese

Method:

Preheat broiler to 400

Peel and cube the sweet potato, cook until fork tender but still slightly firm (since it will cook more in the frittata). You can boil them, cook them in the microwave, whatever you like; I boiled them for about 8 mins. Meanwhile, chop the other vegetables, set the scallions aside. Add the cooked sweet potatoes to the other vegetables in a large bowl and toss with olive oil and spices.

 

notice the yummy orange tomatoes

 

Toss the vegetables into a 10 inch oven safe skillet (size is important). Turn the heat to medium and lightly sauté the vegetables for about 3 mins, then add 1/4 cup water, cover and turn the heat to low. Steam the vegetables for another 3 mins or until slightly softened. Meanwhile whisk the eggs, egg whites, and parmesan cheese.

Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables; turn the heat up to medium low. Cook until the bottom is set and the top is still slightly runny. Crumble the goat cheese over the top and sprinkle the scallions over the top.

Bake under the broiler for 3-4 mins until the frittata puffs up, the cheese is melted, and the egg is lightly browned.

Slice and serve immediately.

One small note- be sure to use a 10 inch skillet, or increase your number of eggs (by at least 2) If you use a bigger skillet you will end up with a thin frittata…no one wants that!

Ok so seriously, I think even my meat loving boyfriend would enjoy this. This is an excellent way to turn vegetables into complete meal. This really would be delicious any time of day. You could also do this with pretty much any vegetable you have laying around…and if you really wanted to, I’m sure you could toss in some ham or bacon.

-Sue