One of the great challenges in cooking is finding ways to turn leftovers into something really good. I had bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store the other day when we had some friends over for lunch, but only a couple of pieces got sliced off. My husband had some for lunch the next day, but quite a bit of meat still remained. I used the meat to make a quick and simple chicken salad that breathed new life into a two day old chicken.
I used ingredients that I had in my refrigerator. Use this recipe as a guide as I am sure that any variety of ingredients will create a good result. I would just follow a similar plan by trying to include a variety of flavors and textures; crunch, tang, salt, sweet, and herbal.
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Chicken Salad with Almonds and Grapes Serves 2 For all ingredients, please consider using those that are organic. |
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| 1-2 cups | cooked chicken, white or dark meat, torn into bite size |
| 2 sticks | celery, thinly slice or diced |
| 1 cup | red grapes |
| 1/2 cup | slivered almonds, toasted |
| 1/2 teaspoon | fresh lemon juice |
| 1 tablespoon | extra virgin olive oil |
| 1-2 tablespoons | Veganaise or greek yogurt (optional) |
| sea salt | |
| freshly ground black pepper | |
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Combine the chicken, celery, grapes, almonds, and parsley in a medium size bowl. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine. Taste and add more of anything you feel is missing. Look for a balance of fat, acid, sweet, and salty. If you like a chicken salad on the creamier side, add veganaise or yogurt. Here are some other combinations to consider: Apples, fennel, pecans or walnuts, parsely or watercress, dried cranberries walnut oil and champagne vinegar Pears, water chestnuts, hazelnuts, chives, hazelnut or walnut oil and champagne vinegar Plums, red onion, almonds, mustard balsamic vinaigrette Mango, red onion, raisins, curry spices, veganaise or yogurt Tangerine or orange segments, snow peas, sesame seeds, celery, toasted sesame oil and rice vinegar Black beans, red onion, chili powder, corn, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil topped with diced avocado |
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