Recently I lured my mother for a visit by insisting that she help me with sorting through the hundreds of platters, bowls, glasses and table accoutrements I have. While we didn’t even come close to going through this left-over spectacle of my catering business we did get to dive into one of her recipes; Forgiving Chicken Salad.
A little known fact about my mother is that she loves to raid her own refrigerator before she leaves for a visit to one of her daughter’s homes. So, like many other visits she moseyed into my kitchen with the makings of her chicken salad. She says it’s forgiving because you can add anything you’d like to the primary ingredients; in this case, dried fruit, nuts and Herbs de Provence.
It’s always a treat for me to cook with my mom in the kitchen; she’s one of the best cooks I know. And still after all her years of planning meals, shopping and cooking for her family she still clips recipes, loves to experiment and share the outcome. She’s a great culinary inspiration.
Here is her recipe just for you. Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 cups of rotisserie chicken, white meat
3/4 cups of celery, chopped fine
1/2 cup of sweet onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup of craisins or golden raisins
1/2 cup of dry roasted, unsalted sliced almonds
3/4–1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence
1/4 tsp salt (kosher)
1/4 tsp pepper, fresh ground
Process
Assemble your ingredients.
Chopped chicken, celery and onion into small even pieces.
Place all ingredients into a large bowl.
Stir to incorporate all ingredients.
Use your favorite bread, some lettuce and you have a beautiful and delicious chicken sammie; either open or closed.
Tips
Any herb may be used. I like tarrogon and thyme.
If you like a little kick add a pinch of cayenne.
You can use as little or as much mayonnaise as you wish. Just don’t make it too gloppy.
Fresh grapes can replace dried fruit. Or fruit may be omitted completely.
Any nut may replace the almonds.