(Editor’s note: This is dueling chickens week, with a chicken salad post the next three days.)
Have you ever heard the term “Coronation Chicken”? That’s what this is, served at but not quite invented for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. This is a very, very simple recipe, a sandwich filler version. If making for a main, you can get far more elaborate, but this will get you started.
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4 or 6 plain croissants
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast. I use the remnants of a supermarket rotisserie chicken, because I always seem to have one in the fridge. Carve out a little more and be sure to spare some for the Ravenous Hound who will be watching you like you’re under FBI surveillance.
3 or 4 heaping tbsp. of eggy mayonnaise, like Hellmann’s
2 tbsp. unflavored Greek yogurt
1 or 2 tsp. yellow curry powder
A small splash of lemon juice but I find this superfluous so I don’t do this unless I’m making the more elaborate main course version for a group
A few leaves of romaine lettuce
Some cashews or slivered almonds
EXTREMELY OPTIONAL: Some halved grapes or some raisins. I don’t use this.
In a bowl, combine everything but the croissants, the lettuce, and the nuts, cover, and chill for a couple of hours. When you’re GOODAM GOOD AND READY, GET OFF MY BACK WILL YOU, WE’LL BE EATING IN A FEW MINUTES, slice the croissants lengthwise and toast them on a baking sheet in a warm oven, maybe at like 250 degrees. Take out the bowl and add the nuts and/or (shudder) the grapes and/or the raisins. I don’t know why grapes and raisins appear in so much chicken salad. Take out the croissants, layer one half of each with the lettuce, smear on the chicken, and top with the other halves. I sometimes, when I’m extremely bored and the croissants are large enough, insert two toothpicks in each, one on each end of each croissant, and slice first.
Dueling chickens week! Perfect timing. It’s warming up nicely outside and chicken salad, in its 1,001 variations, is a great spring/summer food. Unless you’re vegetarian or vegan, of course.
I forgot to mention that before you smear on the coronation chicken you layer the croissants first with the romaine lettuce.
I first got this idea in 1990 when I was in London and Pret a Manger had them. I just went to wiki and they tell me that I’m lying, that it opened in 2007, but that’s not true. It then goes on to say that the first Pret opened in Hampstead in 1986. A confused mess. There was one near my New York office in the mid-90s, possibly the first in the city, and in the beginning they were very British, with things like this and prawn salad sandwiches, but then they switched over to way overpriced sad, lame versions of tuna sandwiches and skimpy ham-and-cheese, so I stopped going.
Whoops, no, I did say to layer the croissant haves first with the romaine lettuce. My slow, steady mental decline continues apace.
You are kinder than I am.
I like raisins. I appreciate a raisiny trail mix. I even like oatmeal raisin cookies. But they do NOT belong in other stuff and I swear to Yahweh C. Buddha if you try to slip some in my chicken salad I will LOSE MY FUCKING MIND.
Also, putting raisins in carrot cake should be a war crime punishable by firing squad.
Have you ever had carrot cake with diced pecans in it? Delish!
Yes, and I like diced pecans a lot and the taste is good — I’m still not totally sold on the texture, but I will eat that sans complaint.
I’m into raisins in carrot cake. I’m into raisins in baked goods in general. So much raisin hate in the world.
Raisins are great in savory salads, like the ones that have broccoli or legumes.
Hello Cousin M and Clever Name, I am not a big fan of raisins in meat dishes either. I have had chicken salad made with dried cranberries – maybe 30 years ago? I often use shrimp in lieu of chicken, but I will make the chicken version as a lunch for family. This version looks quick and pretty.
I think this recipe I stumbled upon a quarter of a century ago understates the amount of curry powder you could use, but I rarely use curry powder and Better Half doesn’t really like it in any event. I’m sure you could sub in shrimp and the results would be equally delicious. Actually, you’ve given me an idea…
I do like chicken salad with pecans or walnuts and dried cranberries. The raisin thing (in this case) is about taste; the cranberries are not too sweet to make the whole thing topple over on itself.
This is why I’ll only use Sultanas/Golden Raisins, if I’m adding them to something (i.e. boozy raisins in carrot cake!).
The regular raisins are MUCH too sweet!
I share your trepidation with grapes and chicken salad, however I have a chicken salad recipe from my criminal father which uses grapes, and is actually quite good. I’ll make it at some point this summer and post it.
So I’ve had a Waldorf Salad with chicken in it and … it’s not terrible? But I just think of it as a different animal; if you said “chicken salad” and it came with grapes, I would definitely look askance. (Though if you brought raisins instead, I’d flip the table over. And then I’d help clean up; I’m not a monster.)
Raisins have exceedingly few edible applications.
This particular recipe is an actual chicken salad, but it’s not anything like what you’re thinking. My father was a lot of shitty things, but he was a top-notch chef who had learned from a number of the great masters of the early 20th Century before they all retired and by that time were happy to share their secrets. So, his understanding of flavor profiles was off the charts. Anyway, when I eventually post the recipe, you’ll look at the ingredient list and say to yourself, “fuck that shit–that sounds terrible”. But, it really does work and I have no idea why.