Fried Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I have a confession. I've been cheating. :( I made dinner on the 2nd, which is what I'll be writing about now, and the day after (which I will eventually post, though I have no pictures), and Chris has made dinner a couple times, but.. I've been cheating.

There have been several nights where I've been too depressed, lazy, or unprepared to make dinner. Fast food as again invaded my life.

Forgive me. :(

But! I do have a post for you now, and I'll be making dinner tonight for a gathering of friends. I'm even all prepared for it and everything. :)

So! On to food things.

Deep South Fried Chicken with Gravy and Broccoli Casserole

These are just for the broccoli.. I didn't think ahead far enough to take a picture of the chicken stuff.

You'll notice the bag of frozen broccoli.. The store was completely out of it when I went in. I really wasn't happy about shelling out the extra dough for the frozen stuff ($4 for what was essentially one good sized broccoli. Ugh.) This also meant I had to defrost the stuff for a bit before I could do anything with it. Annoying,ugh.

If you're doing it completely from scratch, I'm not sure if you would need to partially cook the broccoli first or not, but I imagine you wouldn't have to, considering the cooktime for the casserole.

I started the casserole first, because I knew it took longer to cook. Put your broccoli in a bowl.

Follow with mushroom soup..



2 beaten eggs..



I only chopped about half an onion, but it's up to you..



Shredded cheddar cheese..



And a couple big heaping spoonfuls of mayonnaise.

Mmmm...

Mix it all up, and if it isn't already in a casserole dish put it in one.



Apply crushed Ritz generously over the top..

Or in my case, "Safeway Classic Baked Snack Crackers"

And then pour melted butter as evenly as you can over the whole thing.



Put it into your oven uncovered and bake for 45 minutes.

Once you get the casserole to cooking, start in on the chicken.

I actually don't have any pictures of the prep for the chicken.. Give me a break, I'm new at this.

In about 2 cups of plain ol' all purpose flour, mix in equal parts salt and pepper until you can see the little pepper bits when you stir it all together. You can also add in paprika, garlic powder, or pretty much anything else that you have a hankerin' for. Keep in mind, though, that simple is usually better in this case. Keep it to one or two additions.

Dunk the chicken in the flour mixture until both sides or coated evenly.

Melt about 3/4 stick of butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. When the butter is melted, add the chicken.



Fry about 5 minutes or so on each side until browned.



Turn chicken to it's original side and turn the heat down to medium low and cover for 25 minutes.

Remove cover and flip chicken. Cook until both sides are a delicious mouth watery golden brown and the juices run clear.

Remove from pan and remove pan from heat.

Oh baby..

About now the casserole should have about 10 minutes left.. just enough time for milk gravy.

Had a couple heaping spoonfuls of flour to the juices in the pan, followed with some milk. Scraping the bottom of the pan with the spatula, stir everything until it evens out into a yummy gravy. If it's too thick, add more milk. Too thin, add more flour.

Salt and pepper to taste, then remove the gravy into the gravy vessel of your choice.



And now the casserole is done. :)

*drool*

Serve with a salad or mashed potatoes if you think far enough ahead (unlike me), the gravy is wonderful on taters.



Results

Casserole: Holy crap this stuff is good. I couldn't stop eating it. Seriously, I went back for thirds. I never go back for thirds.

Chicken: Also delicious, but I cooked mine a tad too long. It burned a bit. :( Not as good as I've made before, but amazing none the less.

Gravy: Unfortunately, because one of the breasts burned, the gravy had a faint burned taste to it. Laaame. But still yummy. :)