Roasted Chicken (or leftover turkey) Salad

I love this salad, because, as far as salads go, it's kind of cozy for the winter months. And this will be a very good final destination for any leftover turkey. But, honestly, leftovers last maybe 24 hours after the big meal at our house, so we just go to Costco and get our $5 rotisserie chicken. This makes quite a bit, so I often cut the recipe in half.

1 cup pecan halves (about 3 ounces), broken in half lengthwise

1 whole roasted chicken (about three pounds), skin removed

8 scallions, white and light-green parts only, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, strings removed and thinly sliced

2 Fuji apples, cored and sliced into bite-size pieces

5 tablespoons golden or dark raisins

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh oregano leaves

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Sour Cream Dressing (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven until fragrant, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely. [this step may seem unnecessary, but it really does make the pecans taste fancy. It's worth it!]

2. Pull chicken from the bone; discard bones, and cut meat into 3/4-inch pieces. Transfer to a medium bolw; add scallions, celery, apples, raisins, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Add dressing; toss to combine. Chill, covered, until ready to serve.

Sour Cream Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sour cream

1/4 cup cider vinegar

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, sour cream, and vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use, up to 4 days.

Quick Summertime Dinner: Pesto Pasta Salad

What is the perfect summer recipe? Well, there are several criteria: 1) No oven involved, 2) should take no longer than the amount of time to cook pasta, and 3) should be eaten and enjoyed by all family members. A tall order indeed, but this week, I found a new favorite summer dish: Pesto Pasta Salad.



1/2 lb. penne pasta, cooked as directed and drained
1 15.5 can chickpeas, roughly chopped
1/2 of a jar of roasted red peppers, drained and thinly sliced
12 black olives (I like kalamata), pitted and roughly chopped
1 stalk celery, thickly sliced
1/2 cup steamed green beans
1 6-oz can tuna, drained
4 tablespoons homemade or store-bought pesto
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, red peppers, olives, celery, tuna, pesto, salt, and black pepper. Divide among individual plates. Voila!

And as you read through this recipe, you may be thinking, "Ew! Tuna?!" But, give it a try. You may just fall in love with tuna in a whole new way. My first heavenly encounter with tuna in a salad was eating a Salad Nicoise at a cafe in Orange, France, and I have never looked back. Dude, it's so good.

And here's a picture of Orange. I posted it just to remember myself, there, eating a Salad Nicoise. Sigh.

my salad

because i like to eat this one, have made it so many ways, but this is the way, as of late it gets served.

heidi's greens


dressing

1/2 c oil
1/4 c cider vinegar
1/4 c sugar
1 TB parsley

blend in a blender or something fast and spinny. really. it turns white and nice.
pour that dresing over these:

sliced apples, a nice granny smith does fine or a pink cameo
raspberries
slices strawberries

let these marinate an hour or so, or not. just put the dressing on these first.

the nuts:

i like cashews. you can use walnuts (i get cankers when i smell a walnut and so do most americans, but hey) or pecans. but....i like cashews.

then. turn a sauce pan on medium heat and cover the bottom with white sugar. maybe a cup. add a tsp. of salt and a dash of pepper. (the savory comes unglued) then. watch very carefully, your sugar will start to turn to the most beautiful brown caramel. when it does, add the nuts and stir vigorously. i like to pour these out on a microwave safe bowl lid. they slide off easily enough and don't melt the lid.
chop the nuts coursely with a chopper or a knife.

the greens.

don't use iceberg, that's my only plea. i like spring baby greens mixed with spinach or plain spinach, maybe butter lettice. your choice, just don't use iceberg, save it for tacos.....

the cheese.

always use feta with this. the dressing makes the feta sing an opera.
the end.



short version:
greens
feta cheese
sugared nuts
dressing
fruits



this salad was enjoyed at a picnic with these people.

in this setting. my kind of happy....