Some recipes announce themselves with browned butter, fresh herbs, and a sink full of dishes. Others simply show up when someone needs feeding.
Ruth Lindley’s chicken broccoli rice casserole belongs to the second kind.
In The Lark Mesa Inheritance, Maggie Lindley arrives in Lark Mesa carrying more than a suitcase. She is grieving Ruth, leaving a divorce behind, and trying to understand what remains when the life she carefully arranged no longer fits. The farmhouse kitchen becomes part of that answer.
This is the kind of casserole Ruth might have made without consulting a recipe after the first few times. Nothing fussy. Nothing precious. Just chicken, rice, broccoli, and a creamy sauce beneath a crisp buttery topping.
In Lark Mesa, love rarely arrives carrying fireworks. Sometimes it arrives in a covered casserole dish.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
- 3 cups cooked long-grain white rice
- 3 cups broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can cream of chicken soup, 10½ ounces
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 sleeve buttery round crackers, crushed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
- Boil the broccoli for 2 minutes, just until bright green. Drain well.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet. Cook the onion for 4 to 5 minutes, then add the garlic for 30 seconds.
- Combine the soup, sour cream, broth, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Stir in the chicken, rice, broccoli, onion mixture, and 1½ cups cheddar.
- Spread in the baking dish and top with the remaining cheddar.
- Mix the crushed crackers with melted butter and sprinkle over the casserole.
- Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
From Susannah’s Kitchen
This is the casserole I would leave on someone’s porch when life has become too heavy for deciding what to cook. It does not ask anything of the person receiving it. That quiet usefulness is what makes it feel like Ruth’s recipe.
The Book Connection
Maggie begins the novel knowing how to arrange a room and anticipate what people expect. Ruth’s kitchen asks something different of her. It asks her to stay, to nourish, and to learn that belonging is built through small, ordinary acts.
Cook Along with Lark Mesa
The Lark Mesa Inheritance
This kitchen story is paired with Book 1 in the Lark Mesa Romance series. Meet the people, places, and small-town moments behind the recipe.
Explore the Lark Mesa books →