It’s been a bit of a pasta week around here, so let’s end it with a favorite.
I was asked a to contribute to Wisconsin Cheese’s 30 Days 30 Ways with Macaroni and Cheese, and oh man am I glad that I did. Mainly because I was introduced to this trove of recipes created by some amazing food bloggers. And I got to dress up some tasty elbow macaroni.
I gussied up large elbow macaroni with creamy fontina and a little salty parm to mix up a classic casserole in our family, Chicken Divan—or as some call Broccoli and Chicken—to create my Smudge’s new favorite Chicken Divan Macaroni and Cheese.
Since big Daddy—my husband—was out of town and it was just me and my gal, I had ssseeeeveral servings left over. So I packed it up and took it to one of her friend’s houses—ya know, scoring points with the mom’s because you never know when you’ll need a favor—a house of five who I hoped would give it the passing grade. You never know with kids.
So did it pass? Oh yes. With flying colors. In fact it just may have been dubbed the best mac and cheese they’d eaten and put me in the ranks of Spongebob and iCarly. Watch out Hollywood here I come.
Chicken Divan Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound elbow macaroni
- 5 tablespoons butter divided
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 4 cups cold whole milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 4 cups 16 ounces Wisconsin Fontina Cheese, shredded
- ½ cup 2 ounces Wisconsin Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 2 cups boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced
- 1 pound frozen broccoli spears thawed
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain noodles and set aside.
- In large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add flour and curry powder, whisk well, cooking for 1 minute or until fragrant and flour starts to smell nutty.
- Add cold milk and whisk well to combine. Bring mixture to boil and continue to whisk occasionally as mixture thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Whisk in salt and pepper, add cheeses and stir until melted.
- Add chicken, broccoli and cooked macaroni to cheese mixture, fold to coat and cook on stovetop over medium heat 5 minutes or until heated through. Pour mixture into buttered 9 X 13-inch baking dish.
- Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter; add bread crumbs and mix. Top macaroni mixture with buttered bread crumbs and bake 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let rest 5 minutes before serving.
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I absolutely love Mac and Cheese , with a variety of add in ingredients ~ however broccoli and I do NOT get along , ever , sadly . Is there another green that can be added for flavor , I’d add Spinach { fresh baby , precooked } or Peas ~ The rest of this looks delicious , and I will be making this real soon , we have a storm moving in and we need Comfort Food ~ I subscribe to your Newsletter , there are so many innovated recipes , wish I had a chef ~ Ooo , I do , Heidi , You’re amazingly talented ~ /=^ } ~
Does anyone have a suggestion for a substitute for the fontina cheese? Just looking for something that’s not $12/pound. Thanks!
You could use a swiss cheese. Just choose something melty!
I’ll immediately clutch your rss feed as I can’t in finding your email subscription link or
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Mmmm, this sounds amazing! I’m a mac and cheese fiend, and your version sounds absolutely heavenly. Love the “chicken divan” twist. Pinned!
Everyone seems to be popping up with a chicken divan recipe, and I’ve never even heard of it!! I’ll have to try this version as my first!
You had me at cheese! #totalsucker
This looks delicious! I haven’t had much experience with casserole type dishes so, question! Do you think I could make ahead and assemble the dish a day in advance then bake it the following night? Thanks!
This looks so good!! Going to add it to our dinner menu for next week! I also love all of these Oscars ideas!
Totally printed this recipe. We are huge fans of Chicken Divan and I’d love to try it in mac & cheese form. YUM!
I had a college roommate who made chicken divan all the time when we needed “something special”. Haven’t thought about this dish in years, but now I’ve got a serious hankering!
Also, in case you need something else for your Oscar party, my designer friend made these awesome Oscar Bingo cards. http://yenniper.blogspot.com/2013/02/2013-oscars-bingo-cards.html
Is it weird to have a favorite pasta shape because that one right there is my absolute favorite.
I love your family’s Academy Awards tradition!!! Might have to start one myself! Or, just become a part of your family… ;)
Oh Heidi, I’m 100% putting this mac on my menu for next week, and I’m so excited for it! Wish it was my lunch right now though.
Loved the round-up from Haley as well – super fun and entertaining.
This macaroni and cheese looks amazing! Love this post – so fun :)
Chicken Divan, how very Mad Men-esque of you! I love the Oscars. Last Sunday I was out and freaked out because I thought the Oscars were that night and I forgot to record them. So I made my husband, who could care less about the whole event, download an app so we could record it while we were away. We got home only to discover it was this weekend and we had recorded the whole Sunday night line-up by accident. Oops. At least now we get to watch it live.
How fun! I love this post! The food and movie pairings are brilliant! And that mac and cheese – I want it for lunch today!
OMG Heidi!! I love how you paired food with the movies for the Oscars. . LOVE it! what a great post! and LOVE LOVE LOVE Bradley. Silver Linings Playbook was the only movie I saw this year in the theater! still need to see the rest of the nominees and Argo! Hugh Jackman will probably win best actor but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for Bradley on Sunday!
I’d love to be at an Academy Awards party with all of this yummyness! And of course that Macaroni and Cheese! It looks divine!