Curried Waldorf Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Hope all you little American bb’s had a great 4th of July! We spent America's 240th #brexit anniversary doing nothing and wearing bandanas and jean shorts and also at one point eating lo mein that a sweet angel of a friend brought to a backyard BYO babypool party which, by the way, is the best thing you can ever bring to a party - mostly because no one's expecting it and also because lo mein will forever and always be appreciated.
We also walked to the river and watched fireworks and made side comments to each other about how this was destroying the environment and emulating military violence, and then we walked back home and watched a documentary about how standards of masculinity are ruining America. What a day. How was your fourth of July? Did it involve lo mein and/or Netflix? No? Fireworks?
So now we’re back in the swing of IRL which is a really really good thing because we’ve got fun life things to plan like going to Florida and going to Los Angeles and going to Marfa and doing the laundry. Basically, Matt left his big boy job, but we’re still not getting our everyday chores done, and so we’re running away.
Between neglecting the dishes and trying to pick the *perfect* art-gallery-double-wide-trailer Airbnb to stay in in Marfa, we got hungry and wanted chicken salad and then we started adding all the good things and this little number was born. It features a little curry powder, lots of juicy shredded chicken, some apples, pecans, and all the other normcore chicken salad add-ins. We’re calling it “waldorf” cause it’s kind of like a Waldorf salad, but subbing the walnuts for pecans because we had lots of pecans and also it sounded like an on point idea. Start to finish, this whole situation will only take like half an hour of your life, but we’d recommend making it ahead of time and tossing it in the fridge to let the flavors come together a bit. Find the full recipe below, loves!
Also, psssst, if you wanna see this little blog go on to do big blog things, pretty please go ahead and vote for us as "Best New Voice" in Saveur's Blog Awards. You can vote literally as many times as you want, and it would mean the world 2 us <3.
Curried Waldorf Chicken Salad Finger Sandwiches
Makes 20-25
- About 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 medium white onion, diced
- 1 medium apple, diced
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
- Salt, pepper, and red pepper flake to taste
- 10-14 slices pumpernickel bread
- Our favorite boneless skinless chicken breast recipe comes from Faith Durand at The Kitchn: first take the breasts and kind of press them flat with a rolling pin or the bottom of a mason jar, so they've got an even, uniform thickness. Salt and pepper both sides.
- Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add butter or olive oil, and make sure the pan gets an even coat.
- Reduce heat to medium and add chicken breasts. Cook for just one minute, then flip the breasts, cover the saute pan, and reduce the heat to low.
- Let cook for 10 minutes, covered.
- Remove from heat, and let sit another 10 minutes, covered. Do not remove the lid until the very end!
- Once cool, shred finished chicken breasts into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Assemble sandwiches on whole slices of bread, then slice to desired size (keep whole if you're just having lunch, slice small if you're making party snacks!)