Because Duke Energy gets such a kick out of charging a near fortune for basic heating and cooling needs, we tend to leave our unit set to “off.” Lately, this means that when we arrive home after work the main level of the house is between 78 and 80 degrees while upstairs is nearing 90. We retreat to the basement where it is in the 60s or low 70s. Using the stove and oven to cook dinner heats the kitchen to a muggy 85+ degrees. The last thing we want to do is sit down to a hot meal. Since one can only handle so many varieties of salads and sub sandwiches a week, and I don’t specialize in gourmet chilled soups (um, yet), I’ve been at a loss for cold dishes worthy of a suppertime meal. I have a few new cold recipes up my sleeve that I’ve bookmarked, and hopefully some are keepers. But there is one cool recipe that Ted and I both really like. I make a mean chicken salad and it is so good! There’s one special ingredient that I think really makes this recipe stand out.
In my chicken salad I toss random and totally unmeasured amounts of freshly cooked chopped chicken, cut up red or green grapes, thinly sliced celery and onion, fresh parsley from my herb garden, some dried cherries or dried cranberries, a small amount of low fat mayonnaise, some lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to flavor, and – for that special touch – a hearty teaspoonful of ground ginger (the thick paste in a little glass jar found in the produce aisle). I serve the chicken salad cold, spooned atop a bed of fresh romaine lettuce leaves and sometimes sprinkled with almonds slivers. Use the lettuce leaves as a wrap – works great! If you want to jazz it up or really turn it into a feast, serve with a croissant and fresh red apple slices.
It seems really simple, and it is. You have to try it and don’t you dare leave out the ginger!! I’m convinced that’s what makes it so yummy. It’s so unexpected and refreshing that I actively seek out recipes that call for ginger.
Enjoy! :-)
P.S. – How perfectly ironic. Thank you to the genius who put two and two together. This. is. beautiful.
Oh, I’m sorry, did you want a closer look at those monstrosities?
Now those, my friends, are two ugly hats. Am I right or am I right?
