Chicken Divan Pasta

Total Time: 40 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Me - inspired by Cook's Country Modern Chicken Divan

I tried changing up the Modern Chicken Divan recipe from Cook's Country to make it a little more appealing to me. I had really liked the flavor of the sauce, and I love chicken and broccoli, so I wanted to find a way to make it really work for me. My goals were:

1) quicker. I don't care if I mess up another pot, if I can make something faster.
2) lighter (don't want to use a full cup of cream in a weeknight dish). However, this is still not a truly "light" dish
3) some sort of carbs included in the recipe, like pasta
4) using more reasonable ingredient amounts (I hate it when a recipe calls for strange amounts of chicken broth - like 2.5 cups of broth, meaning I had to open a 2nd can).


So here is my version:

Chicken Divan Pasta

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds broccoli , florets cut into bite-sized pieces
1 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
2 T. flour
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. heavy cream
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, and sliced into bite size pieces, about 1/4" thick
1/2 c. dry vermouth (or sherry)
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. grated Parmesan Cheese
salt and ground black pepper
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 oz pasta (I like Gemilli or Bow-tie)

1. Bring large stockpot of water to boil while starting to prep ingredients

2. When water boils, add 1 T. salt and broccoli. Cook for 1-2 minutes until bright green and starting to get tender. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

3. Bring water to boil again and add pasta. Cook until just al dente and drain. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, heat oil in 12" pan (or a dutch oven, if you have 2nd large pan not being used for the pasta) over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add onion and cook for a minute or two until softened.

5. Add flour and stir for a minute.

6. Add broth and cream, scraping up bits from bottom of pan. Stir until sauce is not lumpy from flour, about a minute or two.

7. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to sauce. Stir to break up pieces. Cook for a 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked through (time will depend on size of your pieces.) When cooked, removed chicken from sauce with a slotted spoon, and place in a clean bowl.

8. Add vermouth and Worcestershire sauce to the sauce and simmer until slightly reduced, 2-3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.

9. Whisk lemon juice and yolks in a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup of the sauce. Remove pan from heat, and add yolks mixture into the sauce, whisking immediately. Whisk in butter.

10. Add broccoli and chicken back to the sauce. (If you are using a 12" skillet or saute pan, you might want to combine everything in pot you cooked the broccoli and pasta in instead, for more room.) Stir carefully to combine everything and reheat briefly.

11. Optional - place in ovenproof dish, add a little more parmesan to the top and broil for a few minutes (put dish in middle of oven, not at the top.)