After the massive disappointment with our chicken curry recipe a few weeks ago, I was a bit concerned about trying another curry recipe, for fear that our curry isn’t good although we just got it. But I picked out another recipe with less curry included in it and an altogether much more simple recipe in general. We ate it last night (flip-flopped our meal plan a bit this weekend) and it was SOOO good. Definitely another keeper from this meal plan! Stefan renamed it Chicken Divine because it was just that good 🙂

So far every recipe from the Southern Living cookbook has been excellent – not that I’m surprised because I grew up in a house where Southern Living was always subscribed to and I know how great the magazines are. In fact, I’m fairly certain that if we lived in the US, I would be getting it all the time now. But that’s another story which ventures into my obsession with magazines, books and apparently all things printed in paper for the enrichment of my brain, body and soul 🙂

But back to the recipe. The only change I made from the original was to increase the amount of curry because there was only a hint of it in there…hence we added 3/4 teaspoon. But each curry is different so you can adjust to your own preference. Oh and I boiled boneless chicken breasts because I didn’t have any with the bone in and just figured it was easier without the bones anyway. And we also omitted the paprika sprinkling at the end because we were so hungry when it came out of the oven that we forget to check if there were more steps in the recipe!

I kinda felt that the dish should be served with rice or pasta or something. It’s not that it didn’t taste good on its own and it certainly was filling, but chicken, broccoli and the curry sauce just seemed kinda strange. We ate a few crunchy breadsticks with it though and that was enough. It was really, really good in fact and I’m looking forward to the leftovers of this dish already!

Chicken Divan
Yield: 4 servings

• 4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skinned
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 (10-ounce) packages frozen broccoli spears, thawed and drained
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Paprika

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup broth. Let chicken cool slightly. Bone and chop chicken; set aside.
2. Melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute,. stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and reserved broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.
3. Stir one-fourth of hot mixture into egg yolk; add to remaining hot mixture and cook 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and next 5 ingredients.
4. Layer half each of broccoli, chicken and sauce in greased 2-quart casserole. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (180 celcius) for 30 to 35 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika.

Source: Southern Living: 30 Years of Our Best Recipes