Lettuce move on

because the star of this salad is the chicken!

I spent my first weekend in the new place making a huge batch of chicken broth to break in my new kitchen.  I probably won’t ever share my broth recipe, since it’s my special blend of vegetables and herbs which I use as a base for most dishes but I will share a neat trick.  When you make broth you have to freeze it if you aren’t going to use it up in a week or so.  Sometimes you just want a little broth for a sauce or a stirfry.  Instead of needing to defrost several cups for this, use broth-cubes!

What are broth cubes?  When you make chicken broth, pour some into ice cube trays and freeze it.  Then you’ll have ice cube sized portions of chicken broth for one time use.

The downside, to some, is that after making chicken broth you’ve usually got a whole chicken that’s been broiled to eat up.  When it’s just you living alone, that can be a daunting amount of food and easy to get bored with.  SO this time I decided to make a tasty chicken salad that not only did I enjoy eating on Day 5, but made a great week of lunches for work. Plus the staples for a good broth (onions, celery and carrots) are gonna go in this chicken salad so you can use up extra vegetables that didn’t make it into the soup pot.

Olivia’s Leftover Chicken Salad

• 1 whole broiling chicken, cooked and picked, (about 4 cups chicken)
• 1/2 sweet vidalia onion diced
• 5-6 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 2 cups alfalfa sprouts
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup mayo, homemade or storebought is fine
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh tarragon
• 1 tsp ground caraway (for that deli fresh flavor)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp coarsely ground cracked pepper

Whisk together the mayo, vinegar and mustard.  This is going to be the base of a dressing for chicken salad. Then add the seasonings and set this aside for half an hour to let the flavors come together while you prep the veggies.

In a big container toss together the chicken, onion, celery, carrots and yes alfalfa sprouts.  Pour the dressing over and mix together.  Personally I think the flavor is even better the next day so I usually don’t eat it immediately.  It’s so tasty on a sandwich or even atop some mixed greens.  I usually add extra sprouts because I love them.  They add a great deal of crunch in addition to the celery.