The Best Chicken Salad Recipe - Video

I love Chicken Salad as much as Tuna Salad. It's a milder taste compared to tuna, so the crunchy veggies and mayo/mustard come forward in flavor. My Chicken Salad recipe video will have coming back for seconds and thirds once you've had your first bite.

The ingredient list is small. I like a little fine chopped onion and celery for crunch. And those veggies are about the lest expensive ones you can find at any grocery store.

I also include a tablespoon of pickle relish. I find it at my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree. You can add more or less veggies and relish to suit your taste. You can even leave out the veggies for a more meaty salad.

I add a little mustard with a lot of mayo for extra creamy Chicken Salad. Again, you can adjust the balance to please yourself and the family. If you don't like mustard then leave it out.

Some recipes call for the herb Dill. Again, use it if you like it, or forget about it.

All the ingredients come cheaply these days. I get dark chicken leg quarters for way less than a dollar per pound and white meat for around 99 cents per pound from Superior, my local Latin market. Dark meat is harder to filet than white meat, but after you've done it a few times it does get easier

I lightly boil or poach the chicken pieces so they stay moist. You can use any chicken you have on hand, either fresh-baked or sauteed, too. I've used leftover roasted whole chicken from the deli case of my local grocery chain store when it's on sale, usually at the end of the work week. Leave out the skin and bones. Canned chicken is fine to use, too - just drain it, like you would with canned tuna.

Poaching Video

I always can find mayo and mustard on sale. And onion and celery are some of the least expensive veggies around.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Chicken Salad is a versatile recipe that's delish between 2 slices of bread, or as an appetizer and spread on any favorite cracker. Put a big scoop on your favorite green garden salad for extra flavor and heft.

So get out the leftover cooked poultry and mix up my latest video recipe of Chicken Salad.

Chicken Salad - Video

Play it here. Video runs 1 minutes, 38 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken breast - cooked and cubed. About 2 cups. Okay to use dark meat leg quarter (leg plus thigh.) Use leftover cooked turkey during Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays.
• 1/4 cup chopped onion - okay to add more or less to taste. I fine chopped 1/4 of a white onion. You can use any type of onion including red and green onion.
• 1/2 cup chopped celery - okay to add more or less to taste. I used one celery rib.
• 1 tablespoon pickle relish - optional.
• 1 teaspoon mustard - or Dijon mustard. I've made this salad without mustard.
• 3 tablespoons mayo - any favorite light or whole mayo. Again add a tablespoon at a time to reach your preferred creaminess.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• 1/4 teaspoon Dill - herb can be dried or fresh. Optional ingredient.

Directions
Use boneless and skinless cooked chicken. I used leftover breast meat from a roast chicken.

You can boil/simmer chicken pieces about a half hour in seasoned water. Or, saute chicken in a little oil. Just make sure chicken is cooked all the way through - no pink or red juices.

While chicken cooks you can chop celery and onion. I like onion in salads (tuna, chicken, turkey, egg) fine chopped. For celery, I like pieces a little larger. Okay to chop veggies anyway you like.

Now time to bring it all together. Add chicken and chopped veggies to a bowl.

Mix in a tablespoon of pickle relish. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the herb Dill (optional.)

Stir in a tablespoon of mayo at a  time to reach your desired creaminess. I mixed in about 3 tablespoons. Add teaspoon of mustard. Okay to add or subtract amounts of mayo and mustard.

Finally salt and pepper to taste. Store Chicken Salad in the refrigerator. If you wait a couple of hours before serving, then all the ingredients will have time to meld and become more intense.

I like to scoop my Chicken Salad onto a toasted onion bagel. You can serve Chicken Salad with crackers as an appetizer. Add a scoop of Chicken Salad to your fave salad.

Wife Approved Recipes - Picnic Sandwiches

 It's a 2fer blog post today: sandwich recipes plus a concert video of troubadour Aimee Mann.

My Wife Approved Recipes have been road tested, so you know they will satisfy. And these tasty sandwich treats are perfect for your summer picnics.

My wife and her mother sometimes take tea at a local parlor, and I heard her talk about what they had to eat. Well, the sandwiches served sounded good and actually cheap to make, especially the cucumber ones.

Check it all out below - how to dine in style with an outdoor concert picnic.

 

Nothing goes better with a free concert by a folk-rocker in the park than delicious picnic sandwiches by The 99 Cent Chef.  My wife didn't have to drag me to Marina del Rey's picturesque Burton W. Chace Park to see songstress Aimee Mann -- especially when all we had to pay for was parking and a few picnic ingredients.

We hit the freeway for a show that spanned a beautiful summer evening from sunset to full moon. At an outdoor stage in the marina's waterside park, we found a hilly spot right there, and laid out my sandwiches on a blanket, then opened our first bottle of wine. The crowd was a local mix of families and hipsters. Aimee started right on time (7pm). She played a great show, with a sliding, tuneful, lead vocal, while strumming amplified acoustic guitar, accompanied by her band. The show inspired me to film and edit a recipe video underscored by her live performance.

For our picnic, I easily assembled the sandwiches from ingredients from my local 99c only Store and Latin market. For my first sandwich recipe I made a Salami and Dijon on Sourdough. The 99c Store has recently been stocking higher-end 3.5 oz. packages of Hormel Genoa and Hot Sopressata Salami. I especially like the Sopressata -- it's lean ground with white flecks of marbling. I also picked up a great Country Dijon by Morehouse. This condiment is rough ground whole mustard seeds -- popping with tangy flavor. I served it all on sourdough bread, but you could use any bread or roll you have on hand.

I would guess that Aimee Mann is more vegan than carnivore. So for my next sammy it's a Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich. I found dark Russian bread, which has a nutty flavor, but you could also use pumpernickel for a traditional tasty tea-time finger food. I like to peel off about half the cucumber skin so the bitterness is reduced. This is a creamy and crunchy refreshing bite between two slices of bread. To go totally vegan, you could substitute hummus for cream cheese (my basic hummus recipe is here.)

And finally, my most controversial picnic basket addition: a French Ham Sandwich. You can be sure Mr. Ludobite (the 5 star Beard awarded French celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre) would flip his beret and scream profanities if he saw what I use for ingredients in his homeland's namesake sandwich (click here to see Chef Ludo throwing a hissy fit.)

 A typical French Sandwich is simply made with butter, ham, cheese, and crusty French bread.  I would normally make it that way too, but since this is a blog for cheapskates, I used imitation butter and slices of Farmer John's "Ham Roll !" Now, was it as good as a Parisian sidewalk cafe classic? Of course not, but no one in our party complained. You can make it with expensive ingredients to impress your  foodie friends, if you have the dough.

So for your next summer outdoor concert, feel free to make any, or all, of my Picnic Sandwiches. And if you like this musical recipe video, be sure to also check out my video of conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. His "Rhapsody in Blue" becomes the soundtrack while his namesake hot dog is assembled at Pink's, L.A.'s most popular fast food joint. To view it, just click here.

Picnic Sandwiches with Aimee Mann - Video
 
Play it here. The video runs about 7 minutes.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.
Aimee Mann's website: http://www.aimeemann.com/

Directions for Salami and Dijon on Sourdough Sandwich
On 2 slices of bread, spread Dijon mustard. Layer on slices of your favorite salami. I used thin-sliced, so about 6-8 slices per sandwich. Slice into quarters and fasten with a toothpick.

Directions for Cucumber and Cream Cheese on Russian Bread (or Pumpernickel)
Smear cream cheese thickly on Russian or pumpernickel bread. I like to peel off half the skin from my cucumbers. I also slice them pretty thin (see photos.) I used about 4-6 cumber slices per sandwich. Layer on the slices. Cut sandwich into four rectangles and hold together with toothpicks.

Directions for a French Sandwich
I spread a thick layer of margarine on a couple of slices of French Bread -- you can substitute with real butter (room temperature.) I often pick up real ham slices at my local dollar store, but this time I used 2 slices of a Ham Roll by Farmer John (surprisingly, quite good.) Again, slice sandwiches into quarters and fasten with toothpicks. I left out cheese, but a good addition would be a slice of Swiss cheese.

If you are making your sandwiches ahead of time, make sure to store in the refrigerator. They will come to room temperature by the time you reach your destination.

99 thanks to Aimee Mann and her groovy band -- they made our  picnic a summer highlight.

Picnic Sandwiches with Aimee Mann - VIDEO

 

Nothing goes better with a free concert by a folk-rocker in the park than delicious picnic sandwiches by The 99 Cent Chef.  My wife didn't have to drag me to Marina del Rey's picturesque Burton W. Chace Park to see songstress Aimee Mann -- especially when all we had to pay for was parking and a few picnic ingredients.

So last Saturday, we hit the freeway for a show that spanned a beautiful summer evening from sunset to full moon. At an outdoor stage in the marina's waterside park, we found a hilly spot right there, and laid out my sandwiches on a blanket, then opened our first bottle of wine. The crowd was a local mix of families and hipsters. Aimee started right on time (7pm). She played a great show, with a sliding, tuneful, lead vocal, while strumming amplified acoustic guitar, accompanied by her band. The show inspired me to film and edit a recipe video underscored by her live performance.

For our picnic, I easily assembled the sandwiches from ingredients from my local 99c only Store and Latin market. For my first sandwich recipe I made a Salami and Dijon on Sourdough. The 99c Store has recently been stocking higher-end 3.5 oz. packages of Hormel Genoa and Hot Sopressata Salami. I especially like the Sopressata -- it's lean ground with white flecks of marbling. I also picked up a great Country Dijon by Morehouse. This condiment is rough ground whole mustard seeds -- popping with tangy flavor. I served it all on sourdough bread, but you could use any bread or roll you have on hand.

I would guess that Aimee Mann is more vegan than carnivore. So for my next sammy it's a Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich. I found dark Russian bread, which has a nutty flavor, but you could also use pumpernickel for a traditional tasty tea-time finger food. I like to peel off about half the cucumber skin so the bitterness is reduced. This is a creamy and crunchy refreshing bite between two slices of bread. To go totally vegan, you could substitute hummus for cream cheese (my basic hummus recipe is here.)

And finally, my most controversial picnic basket addition: a French Ham Sandwich. You can be sure Mr. Ludobite (the 5 star Beard awarded French celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre) would flip his beret and scream profanities if he saw what I use for ingredients in his homeland's namesake sandwich (click here to see Chef Ludo throwing a hissy fit.)

 A typical French Sandwich is simply made with butter, ham, cheese, and crusty French bread.  I would normally make it that way too, but since this is a blog for cheapskates, I used imitation butter and slices of Farmer John's "Ham Roll !" Now, was it as good as a Parisian sidewalk cafe classic? Of course not, but no one in our party complained. You can make it with expensive ingredients to impress your  foodie friends, if you have the dough.

So for your next summer outdoor concert, feel free to make any, or all, of my Picnic Sandwiches. And if you like this musical recipe video, be sure to also check out my video of conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. His "Rhapsody in Blue" becomes the soundtrack while his namesake hot dog is assembled at Pink's, L.A.'s most popular fast food joint. To view it, just click here.

Picnic Sandwiches with Aimee Mann - Video

Play it here. The video runs about 7 minutes.

To view or embedd from YouTube, click here.
Aimee Mann's website: http://www.aimeemann.com/
And she plays the Hollywood Bowl tonight in a Joni Mitchell tribute, info here.

Directions for Salami and Dijon on Sourdough Sandwich
On 2 slices of bread, spread Dijon mustard. Layer on slices of your favorite salami. I used thin-sliced, so about 6-8 slices per sandwich. Slice into quarters and fasten with a toothpick.

Directions for Cucumber and Cream Cheese on Russian Bread (or Pumpernickel)
Smear cream cheese thickly on Russian or pumpernickel bread. I like to peel off half the skin from my cucumbers. I also slice them pretty thin (see photos.) I used about 4-6 cumber slices per sandwich. Layer on the slices. Cut sandwich into four rectangles and hold together with toothpicks.

Directions for a French Sandwich
I spread a thick layer of margarine on a couple of slices of French Bread -- you can substitute with real butter (room temperature.) I often pick up real ham slices at my local dollar store, but this time I used 2 slices of a Ham Roll by Farmer John (surprisingly, quite good.) Again, slice sandwiches into quarters and fasten with toothpicks. I left out cheese, but a good addition would be a slice of Swiss cheese.

If you are making your sandwiches ahead of time, make sure to store in the refrigerator. They will come to room temperature by the time you reach your destination.

99 thanks to Aimee Mann and her groovy band -- they made our  picnic a summer highlight.