the king of chicken salads

I've blogged about chicken salad before, but it's been awhile, and I've made a couple of discoveries along the way that I think are worth sharing. Jim really likes this chicken salad, and I make it fairly often. To that end, I prep chicken breasts for cooking sous vide and vacuum seal them for the freezer. That basically involves salting them, and putting sliced lemons and fresh dill in the bag, then sealing and freezing. I tend to buy chicken on sale at the grocery. Sometimes that means boneless, skinless breasts; and sometimes that means breasts with the bone in and the skin on. As happenstance would have it, the last time I made this salad, I had one boneless, skinless breast and one with both still attached. I cooked them both exactly the same, in a pot of 160 degree water, in their vacuum-sealed bags, for about an hour and a half. The difference was remarkable. Though both pieces of chicken were fine, the one with the bones and skin was remarkably more silky and flavorful. So, I have sworn off the convenience chicken ever since, opting for a little more work and a lot more flavor.

Cooking sous vide is really a great, fuss-free, and unmessy way of preparing poached chicken. If you have a vacuum sealer, I encourage you to try it. It is basically cooking food sealed in plastic at a steady temperature that you want the food to finish at.

chicken breast straight from the freezer, sealed up with

salt, dill, and lemon slices

While there are commercial cookers designed for sous vide, they aren't necessary for good results. I use a candy thermometer and a large pot to hold the water at a steady temp--about 160-165 degrees, which is a safe temp for chicken. I flip the bags over in the water every thirty minutes or so.

this is an exceptionally easy way to cook food--very

clean and hassle-free, with intense flavor

For crunch, I include almonds in this salad. As with any nut, I toast them for a few minutes. Toasting nuts will both up their crunch and intensify their flavors.

I usually use slivered almonds in this salad, but I had 

whole almonds in the freezer that required only a few minutes

in a pan, and a rough chop

romaine, spinach, peas, and onions from the garden

benefit from an hour or so in the fridge, washed and

wrapped in paper towels

I used the romaine, spinach and peas (so sweet and tender we ate them pod and all) as a salad base, and the onions went into the salad. Once the chicken is cooked, assembling the salad is just a matter of finely dicing both the white and green of the spring onions, dicing some celery, grating in the peel and squeezing in the juice of a lemon. And adding some chopped fresh dill, the diced chicken, and the almonds. Stir in just enough mayo to bind everything together, taste and adjust the seasoning.

for two chicken breasts--two ribs of celery, two large spring onions, 

one lemon zest and juice, and a big handful of chopped fresh dill

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, just chop it coarsely, or even shred it. Stir it in to the veggies, add the mayo and almonds, and stir. Taste for salt and pepper and add a little if necessary.

this really is a flavorful and easy summer salad

A light and satisfyingly crunchy summer supper

I made some lemon poppy seed muffins to go along with the salad, and accent the lemon flavor. From a mix--Duncan Hines (or maybe it was Betty Crocker) has a decent one that produces tender, light muffins. But of course I can't leave it alone. I grate in the zest of one lemon, and add the juice to the liquid, in this case milk. Just want to turbo-charge that lemon flavor...