Originally posted by Jess – February 18 ,2015
If you have followed this epic chicken tale for the past 3 days, you’ve probably noticed by now that I tend to cook by the seat of my pants. Unlike my formally trained counterpart Sarah, everything I know about cooking has been learned from trial and error- lots and LOTS of error. I tend to love forgiving recipes, as (if you follow this blog you’ll know) I often need to be forgiven in my cooking.
This brings me to the 4th recipe I’ll be making with this lovely bird.
I love this recipe because it is very forgiving and is fun to play with taste-wise. Make it a game to keep the balance of flavors! If you are using strong ingredients like Springdell celery or red onion, maybe add a little more sweet chunks like a few red grapes or plump golden raisins. If you are using sweet apples or vanilla yogurt (which tends to be sweetened) then maybe forego the honey, or add unsweetened dried cranberries and/or celery seed to counter balance the sweet with some tartness. Below I include ingredients as suggestions only, but please, as always, make it your own and have fun!
- 1 Springdell chicken breast, cubed
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla, Greek or regular- I had vanilla on hand today and went with that)
- A crisp apple or two, sweet or tart, peel on and cubed
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans today)
- Honey to taste (I start with 1 tsp)
- 1/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries and/or halved red grapes
- 1/2 stalk of fresh Spingdell celery (if you happen to have it on hand-I love it when it’s there but don’t miss it too too much when omitted-a bit of celery seed works too)
- 1-2 tbsp finely chopped red onion (optional, you are limited only by your own culinary imagination)
- 1 tsp lemon juice (helps the apples from browning)
- Toast up the nuts in a pre-heated oven at about 325 for a few minutes until fragrant
- After the nuts cool, gently mix your solid ingredients together
- Mix your wet ingredients together (mayo, yogurt, honey and lemon juice)
- Gently fold everything together in a bowl, starting with adding only about half of the mayo mixture-you may not use it all)
- Enjoy on bread, in a wrap, on top of a salad, or just by itself!