Chicken Florentine

Last week, Mr. Picky Pants had a special guest for dinner so I made Chicken Florentine.  The original recipe was one I saw when watching Paula Deen on Food Network.  There were a number of things I didn't like about the original recipe, so I changed it quite a bit.  The nice thing about this dish is that it comes together really quickly using ingredients that are in the fridge and tastes awesome.

The Recipe:

1 Rotisserie Chicken
1 10 oz package frozen, chopped spinach
1 10 3/4 oz. condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup chicken broth
1-1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 8 oz box of medium shell pasta, cooked and drained
1 sleeve butter crackers, crumbled

I use a Rotisserie chicken rather than roast my own chicken for this recipe.  Take all the meat off the chicken and discard the skin and bones.  Make sure to shred the chicken and break it into bite size pieces.

Thaw and squeeze all the water out of the spinach.  Add to the chicken.

Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder,  salt and pepper, chicken broth and 1 cup of the cheese in a bowl.

Add to the chicken and spinach mixture.

Add the cooked and drained pasta to the chicken, spinach, and sauce mixture.

Stir it all up to combine it really well (you'll need a BIG bowl for this).

Put mixture in a large dish that has been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray.

Crumble one sleeve of butter crackers and spread over the top.

Add the remaining cheese to the top of the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melty and browned and the casserole is bubbly.

The Verdict:

Mr. Picky Pants really loves this dish and his special friend really liked it too.  The flavors all go well together and it's a really comforting dish.  It's also really amazing as leftovers.  This casserole will feed 4 hungry adults easily and can be doubled without much additional effort.  It's great for potlucks or to serve to people that you really don't know what they like to eat.  The hardest part of the whole recipe is remembering to buy the rotisserie chicken and shredding the meat.  This is a super satisfying one-dish dinner that everyone is sure to like.  It's also a great way to get spinach into your picky eater.