8/27/06 | Leftovers: Chicken Salad Sandwich
[ Currently Eating: Squidball Ramen ]
Usually, when I get a hankering for a sandwich at lunchtime, out comes the lunchmeat and I pop open a can of soup. However, this time I had some leftover grilled chicken thighs from dinner along with some smashed roasted garlic potatoes in the fridge so this formed the basis of my leftover feast.
Chop up some celery and green onion fine, shred or chop up the grilled chicken, add some mayo, salt, paprika and pepper and you’ve got yourself a nice sandwich already. I didn’t put in tomato or lettuce this time, but that always makes it taste more fresh.
The mashed potatoes are cooked red potatoes mixed with chopped roasted garlic, a bit of butter, pepper and a scoop of sour cream. Roasting up garlic is a great way to get a lot of good garlic flavor into things without any of the overly pungent raw taste. Just take some unpeeled garlic cloves and roast them directly in a skillet for about 7 minutes, tossing frequently. Squeeze them out of the skins, chop/smash them, and you’re done. (You can also roast them in the oven if you want.) I usually use the roasted garlic when making garlic bread.
August 28th, 2006 at 10:56 am
I know this sounds weird, but I like adding rough chopped roasted, unsalted almonds to chicken salad. I tend to have those in my cupboard anyway. The nutty crunch makes the meal more satisfying. I also use celery and white onion, mayo, mustard, salt and pepper.
August 28th, 2006 at 11:32 am
I agree Sylko, almonds are great in chicken salad. And if one happens to have some bacon lying around….
What the hell is squidball ramen? I haven’t seen that variety here in the midwest.
August 28th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
sylko - hey that doesn’t sound weird at all! Sounds great, actually I’ve put choped walnuts in chicken salad before. Another great chicken salad sandwich we made once had cranberry spread inside…
peggasus - bacon is the magic word, of course. Ah yes - squid balls. If you’ve had fishcake before (kamaboko, chikuwa, etc.) in asian noodles, imagine the fish paste rolled into a balls instead, about the size of spaghetti meatballs. But with chopped up bits of either squid or cuttlefish embedded along with the fish paste. They sell it raw, you cook it up in soups or fry them. Pretty common over here, but then I’m in southern california… Also very popular is something called Squid Pottage - super excellent taiwanese noodle with similar squid thingies.
August 28th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
Good Lord, I’ve never heard of such things in my life. Then again, I live where corn is grown and cows graze.
It sounds kind of nasty, but I’ll give anything a try once, if I ever come across them, that is. Thanks for the info.
August 29th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Whoa, back up there. What in the world is “squidball ramen?”
Explain.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Ah, sorry. I didn’t see the comment above that already explains squidballs.
Anyway, had some leftover chicken and make some chicken salad out of it. Yummy.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:49 am
Good Looking meal!!!!
Squidball ramen sounds real interesting.I work at an italian restaurant that serves calamari and shrimnp over pasta.So that doesn’t sound too odd.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:06 am
wow great point about the roasted garlic… gonna try that!
just made myself some of the chicken salad… didn’t have any paprika, but then again, i don’t really know what it’s for other than being sprinkled on deviled eggs…
July 7th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Chicken salad is great with chopped pecans and grapes, also. mmmmmmmmmmmmm!
August 27th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Is it possible using leftover fried chicken breasts?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:11 am
warren - i don’t use paprika for cooking too often either
dj - chopped pecans sounds great - but grapes, hm… i might skip those =)
new cooker - definitely! Sometimes I get a roast chicken or 8pc fried chicken from the supermarket deli. the next day, shred the chicken breast and just use as normal - you can take off the fried coating if it’s too weird to have it in a sandwich.