Chicken Salad

This is a take on the classic chicken salad with grapes and nuts. My version adds mustard and tarragon for a bit of flavor interest.


Chicken Salad

2 large chicken breasts, thawed (about 1.25 lbs chicken)
15 large red grapes, cut into 1/8ths
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup celery, minced
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise (don't substitute greek yogurt, it'll wind up too watery with the added waer from the grapes)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp tarragon
Salt
Pepper

Begin by poaching the chicken breasts in boiling water for 15 minutes. I like to salt my water and add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to try and get some flavor into the chicken as it poaches, so it won't be too bland, but what you do to your poaching liquid is totally optional. When the chicken is done, remove it from the liquid, dice it into slightly smaller than 1/2 inch cubes, then add salt, black pepper, and poultry seasoning to taste. Put it in the fridge to cool while you chop the rest of your ingredients.

Go ahead and do the rest of your chopping, then in a large bowl combine the grapes, celery, red onion, pecans, mayo, mustard and tarragon and stir. Adjust the mayo amount so that the salad achieves your desired level of creaminess, the 1/2 cup in the recipe is more of a guideline than any hard-and-fast law. Serve chilled.

This plates really well on a bed of spinach or lettuce leaves, with grape tomatoes around it for color. It's also great on sandwiches if you want to go that route.

Serves 6.