Chicken Broccoli Casserole 11-Aug-2011

Categories: main-dishes Tags: chicken broccoli casseroles

I threw this together rather spontaneously tonight with things at hand. It’s a pretty simple thing, probably can be the basis for something even better-er.

Ingredients

  • 2 large chicken breasts
  • 2 large heads broccoli
  • 1 large can french fried onion strips
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 small can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
  • 1/4 parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • thyme
  • sage
  • dry mustard
  • monterey chicken spice blend

Directions

  1. heat oven to 350&degF;

  2. cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces

  3. cut up broccoli into bite-sized pieces

  4. sauté chicken, sprinkling with monterey chicken seasoning, salt and pepper

  5. when chicken is part-way done, add drained can of mushroom pieces

  6. mix together cream of mushroom soup, thyme, sage, and dry mustard

  7. put broccoli, chicken, mushrooms, soup and spice mix, and half the can of french fried onions in a casserole dish

  8. add the parmesan cheese {-and white wine-}

  9. mix thoroughly

  10. cook at 350&degF; for 30-40 minutes, covered

  11. sprinkle remaining onion rings on top and cook uncovered an additional 15 minutes

Okay, this didn’t turn out quite as well as I’d hoped. Everyone agreed it tasted good, but it wasn’t very spectacular. It may have cooked too long as the broccoli was rather overdone. Next time I think I’ll try green beans instead of broccoli. Also, the spicing wasn’t quite right. Given the salt content of the canned soup and the onion rings, no additional salt needed to be added. The Thyme and Sage didn’t really work too well either, perhaps they needed more time to bloom effectively.

I think the wine is what made this recipe not work. Suggestion to omit from recipe and provide a wine sauce to add upon serving.

Variations

Here are the alterations I’d make:

  • 1/2 can of the mushroom soup for these amounts instead of a whole can.
  • Use only 1/2 the can of onion rings instead of the whole can (or use the smaller can instead of the larger can).
  • omit salting the chicken while it’s cooking.
  • Omit the Thyme and Sage. Try it with Rosemary (not very much!)
  • Add a little garlic powder.
  • Cook it for less time (30 minutes first part, 10 minutes second part).
  • Try fresh green beans instead of broccoli.
  • Used grated cheddar instead of grated parmesan.

Some other possibilities:

  • use cheddar cheese instead or in addition to parmesan
  • use cheddar cheese soup instead of cream of mushroom
  • use bread crumbs or cracker crumbs instead of onion rings (if i did this, i’d also sauté onions while cooking the chicken)
  • use a seasoned bread stuffing, maybe 2 cups
  • possibly make a cornbread stuffing and mix it in with the casserole(?)
  • can vary the spices tremendously with this dish, I think. Basil/Oregano, or Rosemary, or even go for Cardamom, Cumin, or Curry. Could also go hot with Cayenne, Chili, Pepper Sauce, etc.