One can never be too rich, too thin or have too much leftover chicken.
I’m not sure who said that, but I know it to be true. Especially when warm weather starts and kitchen duty is too hot too handle.
Chicken salads are a scrumptious way to simplify the demands of easy entertaining and a tasty way to use that leftover Shabbat chicken. I always add an extra chicken or two to the roasting oven or several chicken breasts for the grill. This provides leftovers for a weekend chicken salad or soup that can last through the beginning of the week.
These chicken dishes are so appealing and wholesome that they can be the star and main course of a warm evening’s Shabbat dinner.
Start with cooked chicken (fresh or leftover) and add top-notch produce, fresh herbs and flavor enhancers such as garlic, vinegar and mustard. The result is a main dish with maximum flavor and minimum amount of effort.
These tasty salads are attractive to the eye as well as refreshing yet substantial to the palate. The following illustrate some of the possibilities. Accompaniments need not be more than good crusty bread and an appropriate cooling beverage.
Triple Mustard Chicken Salad
Serves 6-8
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbs. sweet-hot mustard
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. grainy mustard
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
6 cups diced, cooked chicken
4 celery stalks, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 head radicchio lettuce, halved and thinly sliced
romaine lettuce leaves
1⁄2 cup chopped fresh parsley
In a medium bowl combine mayonnaise with mustards, lemon juice, salt and pepper. In a large bowl combine chicken, celery, pepper and radicchio. Toss with dressing.
On a round or oval platter arrange romaine leaves in a spokelike pattern. Mound chicken salad in center and sprinkle with parsley.
Chicken Salad Niçoise
Serves 8
Dressing
1 cup olive oil
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs. chopped basil
1⁄2 tsp. thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
1⁄2 tsp. ground pepper
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
4 cups cooked chicken, cut into small pieces
11⁄2 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered and cooked
1 lb. green beans, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces and cooked just until tender
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 yellow or red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 cup niçoise olives, pitted and halved
2 Tbs. capers, rinsed and drained
2 bunches watercress or arugula leaves
salt and pepper
2 cups mixed greens
In a small bowl whisk dressing ingredients until well blended. In a large bowl combine chicken with potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, olives, capers and watercress. Toss with most of dressing and taste for salt and pepper.
Toss greens with remaining dressing. Line platter with dressed greens and top with chicken salad.
Louise Fiszer is a Palo Alto cooking teacher, author and the co-author of “Jewish Holiday Cooking.” Her columns alternate with those of Faith Kramer. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to [email protected].