Chicken Salad

Spring is in the air and chicken salad is calling.  For me, all I need are four ingredients.  Chicken, mayonaisse, celery, and dried cranberries.

To prepare my chicken salad, I start off with two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.  I drizzle them with oil and then sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper.  I roast them in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  Once the chicken is done, I let it cool completely before shredding.

After the chicked is shredded, it's just a matter of combining all the other ingredients.  To the shredded chicken, I add about 1 cup of maionaisse, preferrably homemade.  Then I dice 3 stalks of celery to add to the chicken.  Last but not least, I chop about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and add them to the party.

That's all there is to it.  Simple and delicious.  Roasting the chicken gives it a deeper flavor and keeps it tender and juicy.  The creaminess of the mayonaisse, combined with the crunch of the celery is all complimented by the chewy sweetness of the cranberries.  All the flavors shine.  All you need is some toasted bread and maybe a little lettuce for the perfect chicken salad sandwich.  Although, I have been known to just sit down and eat it out of the bowl with some club crackers.  Who's hungry?

Chicken salad

I was able to check chicken salad off my list of new recipes to try the other day; and I must say, the recipe did not disappoint. I got the recipe from a fellow co-worker whose husband makes the salad for her on a regular basis. He has even started bringing sandwiches to other people in the office when he makes a batch. Several people asked him for the recipe, but he said he didn't have one, he just made it from memory. He did write down what ingredients he used, and they were photocopied and passed around the office.

I was intrigued by the recipe because of the reaction the chicken salad got at the office. I had never tried any that he brought in, so I decided to make some myself. The only ingredients are shredded chicken, diced celery, chopped dried cranberries, chopped hard boiled egg, and mayonnaise. For the shredded chicken, I roasted some chicken breasts in the oven and once they were cool, I shredded them by hand. I then made a batch of mayonnaise and chopped some celery, dried cranberries, and egg, and just mixed it all together. I then added some salt and pepper to taste. We made sandwiches for lunch, but it was also good on some club crackers for a snack. Overall, it is a very simple recipe that I plan to use much more in the future, especially with summer just around the corner.