Chicken Divan - Om Nom Nom!!!

I don't remember where I watch this recipe, but ever since it's one of my "signature" dishes at home and at parties. It's fast, delicious and can feed an army on a budget. 

I love it, but mostly because I love mushrooms, pasta, and brocoli. Oh yeah, it has chicken (it's on the name of the dish...)

Sorry, no vegan option, I think I'm entitled to my dairy and my poultry, xthxbai!!

This story starts with a pretty midget tree, A brocoli. 
I can talk you a specific amount, because I prepare this recipe from the heart... ok, that was too much... I don't really use measures, just be sure it's as much brocoli as a medium size chicken breast.

Cut the brocoli into bite-size pieces, or even smaller. Don't you love fractals? the pieces look like tiny brocoli... brocolis... brocolii??? Put them in salted water for at least 15 minutes, and then steam it. I use the microwave for this, works wonders and the brocoli stays green and pretty fresh. Microwave steam it for about 5 minutes. 

Now, for the animal protein part of this play, we need a medium size full chicken breast... well, not full, without bones. Filleted but not very slim, I actually like big chunks of meat on my meals. Just remember to keep them bite-size. 

What I do with the chicken is very simple. Season with lemon-pepper, and fry on a very hot pan with rosemary and olive oil, until golden and sexy. 

Dude, seriously. Golden AND sexy. 

After that, let the sexy golden chicken cool before dicing it. Trust me on this one and be patient, if you try to dice or slice ANY meat while hot it will shred and fall apart. If it is cooled down it will slice and dice like a charm. I don't want to annoy you with this but BITE-SIZE. 

This is not a dish that has a featured ingredient. What I like about it is that it combines perfectly its five ingredients. 

But if I have to choose a hero, it's definitely the mushroom sauce. It's what takes this recipe to another level... and I LUV to make it from scratch.

So, you start with half a kilo of mushrooms (1/4lb) white portobellini or champignon. Slice then, this time not so small, because they'll shrink with the heat. 

In the same pan where the chicken was, drop accidentally half a bar of butter and scrape the bottom of the pan, until all the yummy chicken juices and remaining oil mix together with the melting butter. 

I give you: the mushrooms!!! Stirr them on the oil/butter mix until they shrink and soften. Season with salt and pepper. 

Now bring the big brothers!! White flour and milk. 

Ok, ok... I use 2% milk, but nothing happens if you use whole milk. Actually, I made two different mushroom sauces, the other one was delactosed light milk and guess what?? Nothing happens!! It's as tasty as the 2% one!!!

So what you need to do is add flour with swift movements of the wrist. Yes, please: use your hands, not directly from the container which could be difficult to handle. It's important to go slow on this step, because the flour has to cook before adding any more. When the mushrooms look sticky with flour, start adding the milk, slowly as well, until you get the desire consistency. Check for salt and pepper and if needed, add more. 

I love my mushroom sauce velvety, creamy but runny, since it has to run through pasta, chicken, brocoli and chard... oh, spoiler alert!!! Nevermind...

Chard, really easy. Wash, chop with no care, disinfect, drain, microwave steam it for a minute and a half, and set apart.

While at it, turn up the volume of the music and sip at something cold and refreshing, like freshly squeezed orange juice. 

I mean, ingredients!!!

While we where doing everything else, we where cooking the pasta (you know the drill: boiling water, salt, pepper and fragrant herbs, pasta in the pot for 15 minutes or until al dente, strained and cooled down). 

After that, there's not a particular order in which the ingredients have to go. Be creative. Be-e creative. Just one tinny thing: if you put the shroom sauce first, it will remain at the bottom of the dish, while if you put it last, it will drip to the bottom leaving everything soaked with sexy goodness on its way down. 

So, my order generally is chicken, chard, pasta, brocoli, and sauce. 

Pop the dishes in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes at a 200 °C temperature... eehh... around 400 °F??? It's just to heat the whole bunch of ingredients a little, and get the sauce to drip a little bit... and, if you want to add cheese to the dish, this is the time for it to melt. 

After that,  food's ready!!! And it's great both for lunch or dinner, and it tastes good while cold, so works for office lunch or pic nic food, which I happen to enjoy a lot. 

Bon apetit!! And let me know how it went for you while cooking this recipe... thanks for watching!!!