ISO the Best Chicken Salad in Town

Another childhood favorite was chicken salad. My mom made the best that I can remember, but I wanted to try it from a local favorite. I sent a text to my friend Mia, and her response was, "GOURMET SHOP!! Hands down!" So off M and I went for a sample.

M decided to get smoked salmon, cream cheese & capers on a bagel. I discovered that I am wholly against smoked salmon. 

Cream cheese, wasted. This should really taste as good as it looks. Sadly, I'm not a fan.

 I did get the chicken salad, on a croissant (because one cannot have to much butter, or too many carbs,) and a side of tomato feta pasta salad.

You can't tell from this picture, but that is A LOT of chicken salad. Too much, really.

The pasta was outstanding! Carbs + cheese = good...
I wish I could say that I LOVED the chicken salad as much as Mia does, but I'm not entirely sure about it. It was a lovely accompaniment to the croissant, but as a stand-alone, I'm not sure I'd order it again. Perhaps it was the texture - I think the chicken was shredded to finely, because it didn't have the bite/chew I was expecting. Perhaps it just had too much mayo (which I can't believe I just typed, because I adore mayo.) Perhaps it just didn't have enough interesting flavors for me. I was expecting celery/carrot/onion aromatics, and they just weren't there. I was disappointed, and the search for the best chicken salad in town continues...

I do have to say that Gourmet Shop has fantastic egg salad, and I'd probably get that next time instead of the chicken salad. I will not order the smoked salmon debacle, for sure.

Any recommendations for chicken salad?? Leave your favorites in the comments!

Is that a feather in your cap?

 

I did something today that I've never done before. Ever.

I bought a whole chicken, washed it, and boiled it in a stock pot with the usual suspects (aka - carrots, garlic, onions, celery.) 

 

 

It sounds much less traumatic than it really was. Ok, ok... I'm being dramatic. It wasn't traumatic, mostly, and I did the buying/washing/prepping myself, mostly.... And it was on sale, which vastly diminished the price tag trauma that I've gotten from buying fresh seafood and eating out at all these restaurants lately. (Yes, I'm a bit cheap.)

 

Anyway, I got the bird home and cut the plastic off her. Down in the sink she went, for a little rinse before the long hot bath she was about to get. I was perfectly fine until something brownish/red floated out of her cavity, and I remembered a little too late that I had to get the goodies out of the chicken's belly before I could go any further. I really did try to stick my hand in and fish out the liver/kidneys/yuckiness out, but I just couldn't do it. Thankfully, M courageously offered to take care of it for me. 

 

And our two kitties had a most wonderful treat!! They really were the 2 happiest kitties in kitty-town.

 

The little chicken boiled 90ish minutes, until (per various websites said) the meat started falling off the bone.

It was easy. And it made some tender, tasty chicken. Now I need some recipes to make use of it all. Please share your favorite ideas in the comments section....

 

From Fish to Feathers

M said she might have to murder me if I made her eat shrimp again any time soon...and she begged me to start eating chicken just so she'd have a little diversity in her diet.

So, as I was figuring out our menu for the upcoming 2 week period, I threw in some chicken dishes. I started thinking about things I ate when I was growing up, things which I remember as being pretty tasty, and I kept returning to recipes which originated with my Granny. 

Granny, who was known to *everyone* in town by that name, could cook just about anything. She rarely used recipes, and I can't remember seeing a measuring cup or spoon anywhere in her kitchen. She was just that good. She taught me how to make flowers with icing for petit fours, egg salad, and fruit cake. She made green beans that were so heavenly that I tend to avoid them now, because I know they're just not going to be as good.

Her chicken noodle casserole made an immediate appearance on the menu. Of course, I'm still looking for a "recipe" for it, since many of her recipes have been divvied up among aunts and granddaughters since her death. So, for right now, the chicken noodle casserole of my childhood is on stand-by.

As for the inaugural chicken dinner, I decided that I *needed* wings. M was concerned that I would be freaked out by the bones in the wings. I thought that I should get the fear/disgust out of the way. So, M and I ordered 30 wings to-go, with 2 different sauces. My wings were coated with a remoulade, M's wings were spicy Parmesan.

My first thought as I hefted the Styrofoam container from the bag was, "Boy this is heavy!! Maybe 15 wings were way too much!" But then I smelled that spicy sauce, and remembered that I would probably sell my soul for a good remoulade.

Yes, I hesitated for a minute or two before biting into my first wing. And I was a little freaked out by the bones at first. But I got over it.

I ate 5 wings before I thought I might explode. I know quite a few people who probably would've finished off all 30, but I get full very quickly when I eat meat, and frankly, I never did eat a large amount of food in a sitting. Don't worry, though, I had wings again the next day for a snack after work.

And they were just as delicious.