The Surprised Gourmet

What is a simple dish that comes to mind when you think of summer?

For me there’s just something about chicken salad that says “summer.” Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy chicken salad year-round but it definitely has a place front and center when the temperature is hot.

There has got to be thousands of recipes for chicken salad. You just can’t go wrong eating chicken. I’ve tried numerous recipes from family and friends featuring grapes, nuts and fruit in the chicken salad. I finally decided to come up with my own take on this time-honored dish. I thought I’d incorporate some of the ingredients I like to see what I could create.

This is the tasty recipe that I came up with, but continue to tweet from time to time.

I start by using leg quarters that I skin and cook in a slow cooker overnight. I then debone the chicken, sometimes save the broth (depending on if I have some already on hand), and use the meat for the chicken salad. It’s not the traditional white meat thought of to make chicken salad, but it works just fine at a more affordable cost.

I put 4 cups of the cooked chicken in a large bowl and use a fork to shred it.

Next dice a large rib of celery into quarter-inch cubes and add to the chicken. Then add 3 cups sweet relish, 2 tablespoons dried minced onion, 1 teaspoon celery seed (I use Gold Medal), 3 tablespoons dried parsley, 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons Lowry’s Garlic Salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, and 1 teaspoon fresh ground Kosher salt. Stir all of the ingredients well, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl so everything is well incorporated.

The chicken salad is ready. This can be served immediately on a bed of spinach or lettuce or as a sandwich. I’ve gotten to where I use only spinach instead of lettuce as I found it easier to digest and really better for you. The chicken salad can be stored in the refrigerator covered for a couple of days.

This salad will have a bit of a crunch when you use the dried minced onion instead of a fresh minced onion.

This makes about 8 to 10 servings.

This SIMPLE CHICKEN SALAD recipe makes a great dish to serve for your summer outings. How do you enjoy chicken salad – on a sandwich or on a bed of lettuce or maybe even in a different dish altogether?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cucina felice!