Turkey Divan

This dish tonight ended all the turkey leftovers.  I have always wanted to make this but never did because my son didn't like broccoli when he was young.  He doesn't mind it now, so I thought this would be a good time.  Most importantly, this was an easy work night dish to prepare.

My decision was to make a real cheese sauce or cheat with Campbell's mushroom soup...  In the end Campbell's soup won!  I really love that soup in certain things and especially casseroles.  This didn't require a recipe as it's basically turkey, broccoli, cheese sauce baked in the oven with some type of cheese and bread crumb topping.

I cut the florets ( a couple of bunches) first and rinsed them in a colander.

I put them on a plate and covered it with saran wrap.

Then I nuked them for 5 minutes.  I only wanted them partially cooked as I personally like broccoli on the crisper side of doneness.

Next I mixed 2 cans of soup and about a half can of milk in a saucepan.  My son had accidentally bought "low fat" cream of mushroom and frankly, it looked and tasted disgusting to me.  I seasoned this with a tablespoon of curry powder, a little cayenne pepper and fresh cracked black pepper to try and hide the taste.  I added about a cup of grated Crackerbarrel Old cheddar and stirred until it melted.  Thanks goodness the cheese improved the flavor!

The curry gave a nice hit of heat as well - I guess because I put so much in once I saw and tasted the soup, lol.

I sprayed a 9" x 13" pan with "Pam".  I put in the broccoli.  I seasoned it with fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt.

Next I added the turkey (bite size pieces) and seasoned it too.

I poured the sauce over.

I grated about 2 cups more of cheese and put that on top - about a cup and a half of cheddar and half a cup of mozzarella.  I also sprinkled the top with Panko crumbs.

I put this into a 350°F oven for 45 minutes.

I ate mine just like this but I did make some rice for my son when he got home from work.   I served his over the rice.

So - the end result was "meh".  If I made it again, I'd take the time to make a real cheese sauce or at the least, use full fat mushroom soup.  If you make it, I suggest you do too.  And, I would have liked the broccoli a little crisper (OK, a LOT crisper), so next time I would skip the microwave step.  The broccoli was too mushy.  Also, I'd cut the florets smaller too.  These were too big.