Chunky Chicken Salad

I find that chicken salad purists are loyal to their one way of having it. Some like the chicken really shredded up in tiny pieces with equally tiny bits of spices and flavoring so that it’s hard to tell the difference between it and tuna salad. Others like chunks of chicken mixed with chunks of fruit and nuts, like an expanded Waldorf-type salad without the apples (or with, if that rings your bell). Lillian's Restaurant on Broadway in Saratoga Springs has a great chunky chicken salad served on a croissant. During the summer months, you can sit outside at a table under the canopy of trees lining Broadway and watch the world go by, all while enjoying their excellent chicken salad!

Here's my recipe:

Chunky Chicken Salad – enough for at least four sandwiches

2 boneless, skinless breasts of chicken
Enough chicken stock (or water with desired seasonings) to cover chicken
1 rib celery
½ cups walnuts
½ cup crisp red or green grapes, sliced in half (or diced apples, or craisins or raisins)
Salt
Pepper
Enough mayonnaise to coat, about half a cup


In large saucepan, cover chicken with stock or water and seasonings and bring to a boil. Poach very gently for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, cover, and let sit for half an hour. Remove from water, pat dry, and cool until you’re ready to assemble the salad.

Cut chicken into ½ inch cubes. In bowl, mix chicken with remaining ingredients, adding mayonnaise last to make sure you add only as much as you want.

Pile on lettuce leaves or stuff into a sandwich.

It’s really good!

Next post: Memories of the old Schuyler Farms Dairy Bar!


Photo credit: Google Images by Randy Mayer http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/ck/05/04/chicken-salad-ck-1041889-l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn%3Faction%3DdisplayRecipe%26recipe_id%3D1041889&usg=__R3_yrKCFNS-G06FxzqOWPpUqNh8=&h=300&w=300&sz=24&hl=en&start=62&tbnid=naefDF5_xWKYtM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchicken%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D60