Chicken Salad

For some unearthly reason, it's still stupidly hot in Los Angeles (100 degrees on October 1st? F**k me.) so I'm not cooking at all much. Not only does cooking require heat (duh) but the actual act also makes me warm. Blah. So chicken salad it is!!

In my extensive years as Someone-Who-Eats-Food, I've noticed there are two types of chicken salad: sweet and savory. I have a recipe for each, my sweet chicken salad recipe practically an exact copy of the Corner Bakery version. However, this is the savory one.

Super delicious as a sandwich...

To make this recipe (or any chicken salad recipe) even easier, skip the whole cooking chicken breasts/ boiling a chicken thing and just pick up an already roasted chicken at the grocer. It also saves on the heat and energy use at your place. Unless you're also making soup that requires broth: parboil a raw roasting chicken and BOOM! The liquid is automatic broth. You're welcome.

If your store has "flavored" chickens-- bbq, smokey, lemon & olive oil-- and hardly ever has plain like mine, go with something using rosemary, thyme, lemon, or olive oil. It adds a little extra zest to the salad too.

...or by itself.

Yes... I used mayo. Smart Balance Mayo since that's what was left in my fridge. And I just read that SB isn't so smart. Mayo is from the devil. Blah blah blah-- I'm not going to apologize anymore! I keep trying and changing my ways, but if I want to use mayo in my chicken salad then dammit-- I will! While Greek yogurt is great for sweeter versions, I don't think it would mix well with the green olives in this one. Same goes with Miracle Whip.

One final note: the problem with this recipe-- adapted from my mom-- is that I "eyeball" everything. So you might need to do a little tweaking to get the consistency just right... but hey, it's a great way to get the creative culinary juices flowing, right? RIGHT?!

Savory Chicken Salad

1 whole roasted chicken OR 3 chicken breasts parboiled OR 1 raw roasting chicken parboiled, remove skin, de-bone, and shred the meat

1 to 2 celery stalks, chopped fine

1/8 onion, chopped fine (optional)

1 cup small pimento stuffed green olives, sliced

2 to 3 Tbsp green olive juice

1 to 1-1/4 cups mayo (basically figure out how creamy you like it and go with that)

Fresh ground pepper & salt to taste

Put chicken, onion, celery, olives, salt, pepper, and olive juice into a medium bowl and mix well. Add mayo and stir until everything is well-coated. Let sit in the refrigerator for one hour. Serve plain or as a sandwich.