Summery Chicken Salad (Sans Mayo)

As a person interested in food and cooking, I often feel like it is sacrilege that I refuse to eat mayo. Even aiolis are generally too much for me, it’s a texture thing. You may ask how I have successfully gotten this far avoiding mayo- no chicken or tuna salad, no potato salad, and no to most sandwiches. I was more of a peanut butter and jelly kid and potato salad, to my family, meant the German kind with bacon and onions. Thankfully, as I’ve learned more about food, I’ve come to find out that almost any ingredient has a substitute. For mayo, that substitute is greek yogurt or sour cream (sometimes I mix them together like in my Spinach and Artichoke dip recipe).

Having just gotten back from spending some time with my niece and nephew, I had to do some extreme grocery shopping. My favorite place in the city to go is to an Asian market just north of me. It’s the best because it has an extensive vegetable and fruit selection (for very reasonable prices I may add) as well as many different flours, spices, oils, and seafood. I picked up some shrimp and bulogi, a korean dish using marinated thinly sliced beef, for dinner, and a whole chicken along with a bunch of vegetables and random Asian vinegars and oils. You may ask why in the world I bought a whole chicken with making chicken salad in mind. A whole chicken, however, is going to be cheaper than buying four chicken breasts and can be used for multiple purposes. In this case, I broke the chicken down into two breasts, two drumsticks with thighs attached, two wings, and two oysters. The carcass I used to make chicken stock. 

Don’t freak out, these are not like Rocky Mountain Oysters (bull testicles). They are instead round, incredibly tender pieces of dark meat found behind the thigh. I got a littler hungry during the cooking process so I cooked the oysters and wings in a little butter and thyme for a snack.

Now on to one of the joys of summer: chicken salad. There are a lot of substitutes you can make with this salad using what you have in the pantry. Feel free to swap in different nuts or dried fruit like raisins or diced apricots. 

Chicken Salad

Feeds 3-4 people

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken or 3-4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 C. chopped mint leaves
• 1 C. chopped grapes
• 1 C. chopped celery
• 1/2 C. plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 C. chopped almonds
• 1/2 C. dried cranberries

Mise En Place

Chicken: If using a whole chicken, break the chicken down and remove all skin. I like baking the skin, spreading it out flat on a baking sheet with a little bit of salt and cooking it at 415 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. The skin turns extra crispy and makes a great add to the top of any salad or just eating as a guilty pleasure. Place the two breasts, drumsticks, and thighs into a boiling pot of salted water. Low boil for about 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts. Once the chicken is fully cooked, cut breasts and thighs into squares and shred the drumsticks. Set aside. 

Celery: Clean two or three celery stalks and remove an inch from the bottom and the leaves at the top. Slice celery in half lengthwise and chop thinly. Set aside. 

Grapes: I failed here. I bought grapes from the Asian market and to be fair, the title was labeled in Chinese and therefore I bought grapes with seeds in them. Avoid this, as I had to deseed all of my grapes first. Quarter enough grapes to make one cup. Set aside.

Mint: Remove the leaves from the stems and chop. Here is a great article for reference.

Nuts: I had almonds in my pantry, but walnuts or pecans would work well here. Roast the nuts for about 5 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees or until lightly browned. Place the nuts in a blender or food processor and give them a rough chop. Do not over process the nuts as the dust from the nuts will turn the salad gummy. Set aside. 

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add chicken.

2. Add yogurt to bowl and mix thoroughly. 

Serve with some toast and lettuce or as a salad.