Curried Chicken Salad

...a fine filling for Green Onion Biscuits

Chicken salad is ubiquitous, or so it seems. Recipe ingredients may vary widely but there's a lot of chicken salad happening across the country. It's the "little black dress" of salads, simple but ready to be dressed up or down with accessories depending on the occasion, the accompaniments and the presentation. Chicken salad is terrific as a salad, but it's also a versatile filling for bite-sized appetizers or heartier sandwiches. This week it paired especially well with Green Onion Biscuits. Just imagine the salad's creamy, mellow dressing playing off the contrasting textures of grapes, pecans and celery; the blend of sweet honey and tart lemon juice or zest; the flavor pop from curry, cumin and fresh herbs... oh my! All of that plus moist chunks of chicken contained in a savory biscuit - now that makes for a flavor-popping bite! 

My Secret Recipe Club assigned blog for December was Angelas Kitchen, an amazingly rich resource for gluten free/dairy free recipes and tips. In the past few weeks I have prepared several of Angela's recipes, some as written and others adapted for our non-bf/df kitchen; delicious both ways! I'm sharing my non-gf/df version of her curried chicken salad recipe, but also recommend Angela's Almond Quinoa with Asparagus and Mushrooms, Spinach Burgers with Mint, or Coconut Lime Chicken. Take some time and explore Angela's Kitchen, you will enjoy meeting her as well as gaining a wealth of information about the gf/df approach to cooking.

Curried Chicken Salad

adapted from a gluten free/dairy free recipe at angelaskitchen

Ingredients

• ½ cup or more mayonnaise, depending on how moist you like your chicken salad (I used Best Foods Lite)
• several dashes of hot sauce, optional (I used Cajun Sunshine)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (OR the zest of 1 small lemon) 
• 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
• 1 heaping teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin powder
• salt and white pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup minced cilantro or parsley, optional
• 1½ pounds cooked chicken, chopped (turkey is another good choice)
• 1½ stalks celery, finely diced
• ¼ cup roasted chopped pecans (or almonds, etc.)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced, both green and white parts
• 1 cup red grapes, chopped 

Instructions

1. Mix together mayonnaise, hot sauce if using, honey, curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and minced cilantro or parsley until blended. Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad. 
2. Place the chicken, celery, pecans, green onions and red grapes into a bowl, add the mayonnaise blend and mix until evenly distributed. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serving Suggestions
Serve a large scoop of chicken salad atop dressed, mixed greens, or

Put into a leaf of butter lettuce for a lettuce wrap, or

Fill a puff, biscuit or baked wonton wrapper cup for an appetizer, or

Layer with thin pear slices and blue cheese on your favorite bread for an amazing panini. or…