Chicken or Turkey Divan

It seems to have become an unofficial tradition that after we have a holiday

turkey, we first make Turkey Soup from the bones and scraps of meat (No recipe- just

boil 'em down and add veggies and noodles), and then we make Turkey Divan.

The recipe came to me from Brent's mother (Andrea Sparks) after we were

married. We were visiting his parents at their house in Forsyth, Mo, and I

started copying down all the recipes that Andrea told me were Brent's favorites.

About 200 index cards later, I had the start of my married life recipe collection.

The wording is just like it was copied down, except I changed "1 can peas" to

broccoli. You can thank me for that later. 

6 servings

1 whole chicken, cooked and boned

(Or leftover turkey from Thanksgiving)

3 cups chopped broccoli

1 can cream of chicken soup

2/3 cup mayonaise

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 Tbl yellow curry powder (or to taste...I use *a lot* more, but I like it strong)

1/2 to 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Bread crumbs

Blanch broccoli till bright green, drain. Place in buttered casserole dish. Mix

remaining ingredients together except bread crumbs. Pour over broccoli; cover

with bread crumbs and dot with butter. Bake at 350deg F for 30-45 minutes.

Serve over rice.

This freezes really well without the rice and it's one of those dishes that gets better if it ages a couple days in the frig or freezer.

And speaking of curry powder........

When we lived in Singapore we would get the curry spice mix during our every

Saturday morning trip to the open air market on Serangoon Road in Little India.

The food sold on each table was a different vendor and they had a specialty: fresh fruit & vegetables,  spices, meat, poultry, fish, flowers. One man only* sold fresh coconut ground to order!  The spice vendor would ask what you wanted to cook, you told the name of the dish, and they would custom grind a packet of powder or paste for you containing

all the just-right ingredients to take home.

* (Once he also offered to sell a box of eight 6 week old kittens to my daughters, but I declined.  The girls nominated me for the Meanest Mom of the Year Award for the third year running.)