N is for Nutty Chicken Salad

and Nanny Goat Nettie, I Don’t Like Spaghetti

Even though I personally, really really love spaghetti.

It’s my favorite.

Like eating and cooking Italian food is life to me.

In fact, I want to go to Italy and take a cooking class with a little Italian lady in Tuscany.

‘Cept we can’t even go the movies right now, so it might be a while for that dream to come true.

Well, that, and the COVID was all over Italy, too.

What in the world is going on? I just can’t talk about it anymore.

Seriously, like I’m going to talk about the fact that we are over the hump for cooking through the alphabet, instead.

And I’m feeling pretty accomplished about it.

Yes, we are finally past the halfway mark and it only took me 10 months get us through.

I mean, we’ve been in the pandemic for 10 years it seems, so 10 months isn’t long, right?

Right.

But here we all are and today’s recipe is one of the MANY chicken salad recipes in my war chest.

I love chicken salad, not as much as I love spaghetti, but I love it pretty good.

And I love experimenting with different chicken salad recipes.

Because my son loves it “dill”…Scott likes it “normal” and I love it “fruity.”

Angel Grace doesn’t love it all.

Too bad for her, because chicken salad HAS to be a food group.

Who’s kid is she?

Many people think chicken nuggets are a food group…at least they were to my children…

…and my sister’s children.

And to Nanny Goat Nettie.

That’s right, Nettie was a picky eater.

Anybody out there got one or more of those?

We’ve all known “one” of those types, right, that won’t even try something new.

Nope…not even willing to put it to their lips…or to their nose.

That’s Nettie…until her dad hatched a plan to get her to try something new.

And guess what?

She loved it…even the “broccoli trees.”

So for anyone out there with picky eaters…you MIGHT want to think about this book.

And shortly after that, you might want to make this recipe.

It’s a very old school kind of chicken salad, and I want to start by saying you can absolutely use canned chicken.

I do that sometimes, if I’m in time crunch, it’s just easier.

But when I have the time, I like to roast my chicken in the oven and shred it up.

Delish…trust me…there is a difference.

So let’s get to it and actually roast our chicken in the oven.

This recipe calls for 4 cups of chopped or shredded chicken. If you make it from scratch, that’s about 5 chicken breasts.

Also, that would be 3 cans of cooked chicken if you use the canned kind.

And just a note about canned chicken, drain it before you shred it in a colander and wash it under warm water.

It just makes it fresher and to me, gets any oily texture and taste out of the chicken.

I put my chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and rub with them olive oil and sprinkle one-half teaspoon kosher salt and one-fourth teaspoon black pepper on each breast.

As always, you can salt and pepper to your taste. We will also salt and pepper the chicken salad when we start putting it all together.

In a preheated to 450-degree oven, roast your breasts (I could go all kinds of ways with this but I will refrain) for 40-45 minutes.

Once the chicken is roasted, let it cool and shred, or chop and put in a mixing bowl.

While your chicken is cooling, let’s toast your nuts.

Wait.

This is a G-rated blog…but we all thinking it, though, I can tell.

Let’s chop 1 cup of pecans or almonds (I used pecans today) and place them in an ovenproof dish.

In a 350-degree oven, toast the pecans 7-8 minutes until brown and fragrant.

They will burn quickly on you, so watch closely.

We are ready to assemble now, so to your bowl of shredded chicken, and in this order add:

1 cup finely chopped celery-1/2 tsp salt-1/2 tsp seasoned salt-1/2 tsp pepper, 1 ½ cups white raisins.

Wait.

What’s a white raisin, you might be asking?

It’s a raisin that’s not brown.

There was a time in my life when the only two things I wouldn’t eat was a raisin and an oyster.

Now, it’s just an oyster.

No way, call me Nettie I don’t care.

I ain’t no oyster kind of girl.

Where were we?

Oh…at the white raisin juncture…then add the toasted nuts, 1 ½ cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise and 1 cup sour cream.

Don’t forget to mix in the order I listed and stir well.

It’s best refrigerated before serving.

I like it on bread, obviously, or a big dollop on a fresh tomato.

Or just out of the bowl with a spoon.

Even a chicken would like this.