Tarragon Chicken Salad with Walnuts

A few months back, a group of friends brought together online by the love of food finally started eating out together at the many great restaurants in Tampa Bay.  One of our first meals was brunch at Pane Rustica where I braved my fear of mayonnaise-based salads on the advise of a friend and ordered their chicken salad served inside of an acorn squash.  It changed my mind about what this type of salad can be and ever since, I have been toying with the idea of making chicken salad at home.

My local farm, Hydro Harvest Farms, has Mexican Tarragon growing right by their entrance.  Mexican Tarragon is an anise, or licorice, flavored herb more often seen in local butterfly gardens than used in culinary applications.  It's a shame because it is a hardy herb that lends itself well to many dishes.  Think hollandaise! 

Not being able to resist this pretty and flavorful herb, I cut a large bunch from his overflowing pots determined to make something with it!  It's been sitting in my fridge, taunting me, for almost a week now. Finally, I got the ambition today to play when I realized I had a packet of chicken thighs that had to get used or frozen today.  Whole Foods sells vacuum-packaged chicken pieces without polystyrene.  We picked up their chicken thighs knowing we would use it if it's in the house.

I poached the thighs with fresh tarragon, one small yellow onion and two garlic cloves.  Using a technique I've learned from my friends at Chowhound, I covered the contents of the pot with water.  Then, after putting the pot on the stove, I turned up the heat to medium-high heat.  As soon as the contents came up to a boil, I covered the pot and took it off the heat to sit for ten minutes.  I never remember timing, so I set a kitchen timer.  After ten minutes, I strained the contents from the pot and set them off to cool while making the tarragon vinaigrette. If you are cheap like me, reserve the poaching liquid and cook it down for a herb-flavored stock. 

To make the vinaigrette, I combined the oil, salt, lemon juice and tarragon in a large container and blended with an immersion (stick) blender until emulsified.  That's it.  Why anyone buys bottled salad dressing full of preservatives and odd chemicals when this is all salad dressing comes down to just boggles my mind.  This dressing will keep easily for several days. 

Once the chicken is cooled, chop the chicken thighs into small pieces.  Chop half of your boiled onion, and one garlic cloves and add it with the chicken pieces, walnuts, yogurt and some of your vinaigrette. After blending, add salt, pepper, or more vinaigrette to taste.  I'm still not a big fan of mayo, so the yogurt is my substitution.  Feel free to use mayonnaise if you like it, or if you are interested in keeping this recipe strictly kosher.

I have a mini food processor, so chopping the ingredients ahead of time helps me get everything in the darned thing!  You don't have to if you have a normal sized food processor.  Using the food processor helps give this chicken salad a smooth texture, but if you prefer a more rustic approach just chop the ingredients by hand and mix the rest in a large bowl and be sure to incorporate it all fully. 

Serve the chicken salad on top of a lettuce based salad, in lettuce cups or as a sandwich!  If you have any leftover matzo like my house, it's great on matzo too.  If you have them, grapes or celery would be great textural additions. I used walnuts because I had some in the freezer left over from some making Charoset earlier in the week. 

This is lunch tomorrow, Tarragon Chicken Salad with Walnuts over mixed greens (also from Hydro Harvest Farms.) I've got the leftover vinaigrette in a small side container and, with some matzo, plan to enjoy this for lunch tomorrow.  You should too.  Seriously.  Go make this now. 

 

Poached Chicken:
Enough Water to Cover the Chicken
1 pound of chicken thighs (breasts would work well if you have them)
1 small yellow onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup of fresh Mexican tarragon leaves, tightly packed

Tarragon Vinaigrette (makes 1 1/4 cups of vinaigrette):
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup of fresh Mexican tarragon leaves, tightly packed

Chicken Salad (makes 2 cups or 4 servings):
1 pound Poached Chicken
1/4 cup Tarragon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup plain flavored yogurt
1/4 walnuts