Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad! I love it as a salad with grapes or apples, pecans or almonds, and love it as a sandwich....my favorite way to eat it. I make it using lefover chicken, I'll buy a rotisserie chicken in order to make it and I've even, in a pinch, use canned chicken, but my favorite way to make it is with grilled chicken breasts. I don't really have a recipe and the way I make it is very basic...nothing fancy. All you really need in order to make chicken salad is chicken and some type of dressing....the rest is up to you.

Ingredients:

Chicken (I prefer skinless chicken breasts)

Mayonnaise (I use light mayo....never fat free)

Onion

Seasoning (my seasoning of choice...Poultry Magic, Magic Seasoning Blends by Chef Paul Prudhommes

Celery (adds a nice fresh crunch....I don't add it anymore because Michael doesn't like celery)

As I said my recipe is very basic.

I don't have any measurements here because I don't measure anything. Depending on how much chicken I have, I either use more or less of each ingredient. I add the mayo until it's to the consistancy I like....moist. I don't like it too dry and I don't like it runny, everything else I add to taste.

My grill...the Lean, Mean, Grilling Machine.  I actually have two...this is my small one. When I grill more than one thing, I use the larger....I was too lazy to drag it out so grilled the chicken one piece at a time on this one.  I don't have a gas grill because I prefer a charcoal grill....and yes, I do have a charcoal grill but it's in a box in my garage...haven't put it together yet. So, my trusty George Foreman gets used, almost daily. Can't beat it for speed....chicken is done in 8-9 minutes (depending on size and thickness) and fish is ready in approximately 3 minutes. It's great to use when I get home from work tired and hungry and want to eat almost immediately.

I season the chicken with the above mentioned poultry seasoning, then grill.

When it comes to chopping the chicken, I usually use a chefs knife and cutting board and chop it into bite size pieces (especially if making a salad) but lately I've started chopping it up in my food processor, using the pulse button. It just seems to work better as a sandwich that way and the seasonings get mixed into the chicken really well....I think it tastes better.

I'm wimpy when it comes to chopping onions so usually use my food processor....keeps the tears down to a minimum. I do a few pulses to get them diced up. If I'm at Michael's he chops the onions for me.(he doesn't like to see me cry....you can tell we aren't married)...being a bachelor, he doesn't have a food processor. It's the funniest sight I've ever seen...here is this big man using a little cutting board and small pairing knife. He cuts the onions a piece at time, with a  look of concentration on his face....he takes onion chopping seriously. I've tried to get him to use a chefs knife and large cutting board but he prefers to do it this way. Even though it takes forever, I'll continue to let him chop onions, at least I'm not doing it.

Sorry about that little detour....now back to business.

Once the chicken and onion is chopped, I combine the two.

Add mayo to desired consistancy....as I said before, I like mine moist...not too dry or too runny. Sometimes if I make chicken salad the night before I use it, I have to add a little more mayo.

That's it....can't get much easier than that.