Chicken Divan Pie - Week 14 Bonus

When the spoon hits your mouth

for a big chicken pie, that's a mournay.

When the greens seem to shine,

like you've had too much sauce, that's a mournay...

Cheesy Ode to Chicken Divan Pie

I found a book in the library that contained only pot pie recipes, and it defined a pot pie as having the crust on the top. The book had all sorts of bread crumb topped casseroles and classified them as pie; so this chicken divan can be classified as a pie!

The star of this pie is the sauce; its creamy mournay sauce takes a little bit of time, but it is well worth the effort.  This French dish originated in New York when it was named after the Divan Parisien Restaurant. This postcard was from the 1940s, and I can only imagine how it felt to feed your family this fancy dish in the 50s knowing that its roots were from a fine dining establishment in New York City. 

The list of the things that I love about this dish is long: 

the fresh steamed broccoli, the homemade crusty topping, one-dish goodness, and the parmesan cheesy sauce. 

This was my first attempt on making homemade croutons that was needed for the crumb topping. I think they were pretty tasty. You could substitute store-bought croutons or even stove top for the top if you want to make the recipe simpler. The fresh garlic crumbs really complemented the other flavors in this dish.

This dish also exercises your chef abilities by creating a roux for the sauce. A roux (pronounced "rue") is simply heating up a fat in the pan and adding flour and cooking it until the raw flour taste is gone and the desired color has been reached before adding the liquid.

This sauce also uses cream that has been whipped into soft peaks making it extra creamy and delicious.

Ingredients:

3 slices toasted/dried bread

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 t. Italian seasoning

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. ground pepper

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 large bunch of broccoli, cut into spears

4 T. butter

5 T. flour

2 cups chicken broth 

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 T. lemon juice

Garlic, Salt & Pepper, to taste

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

6 tenderloin chicken breasts, cooked and diced

Directions:

Cube toasted/dried bread into bread crumbs for topping. Mix garlic, olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and ¾ cup parm cheese together. Toss with bread crumbs until well mixed. Set aside for topping.

Steam broccoli just until tender, and drain well.

In saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat; add the flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes until the mixture is a golden brown. Add the chicken broth and continue to stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl, beat the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Stir the cream, lemon juice and 3/4 cup parm cheese into the sauce. Garlic, salt & pepper to taste.

In 2 quart casserole, arrange broccoli around the edges, stems pointed toward the inside. Place chicken on top of the broccoli. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle bread crumb topping over the sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees until bread crumbs are crispy.  

This recipe found a permanent location in my recipe box for those special occasions when you want the familiar but satisfying layers of taste you get with the one-dish meal.