Chicken Divan

September 1, 2018

I am just back from a week spent with my Mother, Alice Jo, who turned 96 on Aug. 21st.  And what did the birthday girl want to eat during her birthday week? Lots of home cooking, particularly savory casseroles that made the house smell so wonderful.

One of our all-time favorites is a curried chicken casserole made from a recipe that I was given probably 40 years ago by the women of St. John’s Holly Days, an annual fundraiser that included frozen casseroles. When I chaired a similar committee for Day on the Island, held at my own church, Isle of Hope United Methodist, this was probably our most sought-after casserole. People were terribly disappointed when we would run out.

Curries, by the way, have been popular in Savannah since the earliest times due to shipping, which brought all sorts of herbs and spices to the city for cooks to create new dishes with.

I have altered this recipe in recent years to utilize a flavorful rotisserie chicken, which adds flavor and saves time. I like to serve it over yellow rice – the bright green broccoli and orangy curry sauce over the yellow rice is just beautiful.

Makes 2 8-by-8-inch casseroles, each serving 4

Remove 4 cups of meat from chicken and break with fingers into bite-sized pieces. Set aside. Use the rest of the chicken for chicken salad.

In a medium saucepan, cook broccoli in ½ cup of salted water until it breaks apart, about 5 minutes. Drain. In a large mixing bowl, combine soup, mayonnaise, sour cream, grated cheese, lemon juice, curry powder, salt, pepper, and wine. Stir well.

Spray 2 8-by-8-inch tinfoil pans with cooking spray. Spread half of chicken evenly in the bottom of each pan. Divide broccoli and evenly spread half of broccoli over chicken in each pan. Thoroughly mix sauce and spread half of sauce over broccoli in each pan. Or, combine chicken, broccoli and soup mixture, mix well, and spread evenly into a 13-by-9-inch casserole dish.

Combine Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and sprinkle evenly over casseroles. If freezing, wrap the casseroles with Press and Seal and then place smaller casseroles into freezer bags. Wrap larger casserole with tin foil. Freeze. When ready to cook, allow to thaw in refrigerator for a day. Let sit on counter for an hour to come to room temperature. Remove all wrapping and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes. If you are not freezing casserole, bake it at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Serve over yellow rice.