An autumnal chicken salad with crunch and a sweet surprise
Leftover chicken becomes a cool supper the following night with the addition of some perky condiments, plenty of crunch and a little surprise to finish it off.
Not every night has to be a cooking night, even for me. I had thought of turning the leftover meat on this carcass from the previous night's roast chicken (for which you'll find the recipe here tomorrow) into a coronation chicken salad, but decided to create my own version of that instead.
The shoulder season is slowly giving way to the looming winter, so try to get this kind of recipe in once or twice before we all turn to the soups, stews and curries to come. And I can't wait for those but, not just yet…
So this follows, more or less, the idea of coronation chicken – shredded or chopped cooked chicken in a sauce based on mayonnaise but with other bits and pieces in it for added interest.
I like this kind of salad to have crunch, so I included celery, spring onions and a red pepper, with a base of shredded lettuce at the bottom of the bowl drizzled with olive oil, topped by the dressed chicken and finished with tomato and the surprise element of halved seedless red grapes.
But it's the condiments that make the difference in this salad – mayonnaise, Rozendal lavender botanical vinegar and tamari soy sauce. Tamari soy is thicker and less salty than conventional soy, and contains little or even no wheat. Rozendal vinegars are superb, with a delightful sweetness that makes it much less 'vinegary' than many condiments.
Tony's autumnal chicken salad
(Serves 4 as a meal)
Ingredients
2 cups leftover chicken
2 celery stalks, diced
1 red pepper, trimmed and diced
3 spring onions, chopped
2 cups lettuce, shredded
12 baby roma tomatoes, sliced in half
16 seedless red grapes, halved
1 garlic clove, cut in half
1 cup decent mayonnaise
3 Tbsp Rozendal lavender botanical vinegar
2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Method
In a bowl, mix the shredded or diced cooked chicken with the mayonnaise, vinegar and tamari soy sauce.
Add the diced and chopped celery, spring onions and red pepper to the chicken mixture, season with salt and black pepper, and combine.
Most of the bulk of the salad is now contained in the chicken mixture, just like coronation chicken.
Rub the bottom of a salad bowl with both pieces of the cut garlic, and discard them. This will come through when the salad is tossed and served.
Place the shredded lettuce at the bottom of the bowl, and drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil.
Spoon the chicken mixture onto the lettuce.
Scatter halved baby tomatoes over, and the halved grapes.
Season lightly with salt and black pepper.
There's no need to serve it with anything – it's a meal in itself. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The South African
4 days ago
- The South African
Samuel L. Jackson celebrates wife LaTanya's Broadway success
Samuel L. Jackson recently threw a sparkling celebration in honour of his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, following her Tony Award nomination. The star-studded cocktail party, thrown by Samuel L. Jackson, took place at the chic Whitby Hotel in New York City drawing an impressive crowd of friends and industry heavyweights. These included director Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee, and Sotheby's real estate expert Spencer Means, according to Page Six. LaTanya, 75, was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her compelling performance as Claudine Jasper in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Purpose . The play explores the complex dynamics of the Jasper family as they confront issues of faith, political legacy, and familial duty. It has garnered six Tony nominations in total, highlighting its critical acclaim. Samuel L. Jackson, 76, took to the microphone to praise his wife's extraordinary talent and their nearly 45-year marriage. He fondly reflected on how LaTanya inspires him and helps make him a better person. The atmosphere was warm and lively, with LaTanya playfully interrupting his speech, joking, 'See, he had to make it about him!' This witty exchange highlighted her ongoing theme about wives flourishing alongside their accomplished husband. The couple's daughter, Zoe, also joined the celebration, delivering a brief but heartfelt tribute before passing the mic to her mother. Among the guests were celebrated actress Angela Bassett and her daughter Bronwyn, fashion journalist and Purpose playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. LaTanya Richardson Jackson's journey to this nomination is nothing short of remarkable. She previously earned a Tony nod in 2014 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun . Despite her success, LaTanya remains humble. She once revealed she didn't initially tell Samuel L. Jackson about the nomination because she was caught up in other matters. She joked that she has '500 jobs' and that the nomination felt like 'hitting the lottery' in a fiercely competitive Broadway season. The Jacksons exemplify a partnership built on mutual respect and support, inspiring not only in Hollywood but globally. Samuel L. Jackson's heartfelt Instagram post congratulating LaTanya echoed this sentiment: 'WHEN DIAMONDS MEET, TONYS HAPPEN' — a fitting tribute to a powerhouse couple. As the 2025 Tony Awards approach on 8 June, all eyes will be on LaTanya Richardson Jackson. This celebration was a testament to passion, purpose, and the power of partnership. Cheers to LaTanya — a true star shining bright on the Broadway stage and beyond. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Daily Maverick
5 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Lekker Brekker Monday: Rustic tomato tart
There's a whack of flavour in this dish thanks to the layer of caramelised onion beneath the tomatoes and the base of tomato and mustard paste below that. A tart for breakfast? There's no reason why not. You can even prepare it the day before, refrigerate it, bring it to room temperature just before you have your morning coffee, and then pop it into the oven for a hot, warming breakfast. Perfect for a cold autumn day. The tomatoes need to be bright red and ripe almost to the point of fading. The onions (and there's plenty of onion in this tart as well as tomatoes) can be red too, but aren't roasted for this recipe even though I do often roast them before continuing with a recipe. In this case, round slices are best. The pastry is a hot water pie crust, the recipe for which was given to me years ago by a local restaurateur in my small town. After I told her how wonderful the crunchy pastry was, she said — here's the recipe. Find that below too. For this, you need a standard old-fashioned oven pan, which you need to spray or grease. Tony's rustic tomato tart Ingredients 1 recipe hot water pie crust (see below) 6 large, very ripe tomatoes, sliced (about ½ cm per slice) 4 medium red onions, peeled and sliced thinly 3 Tbsp olive oil for frying the onions 100 ml tomato paste 2 heaped tsp Colmans Hot English Mustard OR 2 Tbsp quality Dijon mustard (note the teaspoon V. tablespoon: hot English is much stronger) A few oregano sprigs, the leaves picked off Coarse salt and cracked black pepper to taste Method Preheat oven to 200℃. In a deep frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the sliced onions. Simmer them on a low heat until they are beautifully caramelised and browned. You need to move them around with two wooden spoons every five minutes or so to get the caramelisation even. They can be cooking while you make your pastry. Just keep an eye (and nose) on them. Make the hot water pastry (see recipe below) and roll it out on a floured board until it is just a bit bigger than your oven tray on all sides. Carefully pick it up with both hands and place it over the oven pan to fit. Roll over the four sides to make a boat, as it were, and crimp the edges all round between finger and thumb. Prick the base in many places with a fork. Mix 3 Tbsp mustard with 100 ml tomato paste (purée) in a small bowl. Spread this generously and evenly all over the base. Spoon the caramelised onions all over and spread it to all corners and sides. Layer tomato slices on top of this, in rows, overlapping a little. Pick the oregano leaves and scatter them over the tomatoes. Season generously with coarse salt and cracked pepper. Drizzle more olive oil on top. Bake it for 35 minutes or more in the hot oven, or until the pastry is nicely browned at the edges. Don't be tied down to a cooking time; it's ready when your eye says so. In my silly old gas oven it took a fair bit longer. Hot Water Pie Crust 1 cup/250 ml water 250 g salted butter 4 cups plain flour Heat the butter and water together in a pot and simmer until all the butter has melted and it reaches boiling point. Put the flour into a large bowl, make a well, and pour the hot water into it a little at a time while stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, just to combine the liquid and flour. Then mix it and knead it with clean hands, while it is hot, to form a nice smooth, pliable dough. It does not need salt. It's ready to use immediately, even while still warm, or you can cover it with cling film and refrigerate for use later. You can press it into a tart tin or onto a baking sheet, or roll it out first. DM
Daily Maverick
27-05-2025
- Daily Maverick
Souper Tuesday: Gem squash and parmesan soup with saffron
Who doesn't love gem squash? Buttered and sprinkled with Parmesan, what a treat. Here's how to get all of that squashy satisfaction in a luscious winter soup. Some ingredients stand out from the pack. They're pure luxury on the palate. Like saffron. And truffles. And vanilla. Yes, despite the last word now being used to suggest something plain and obvious, vanilla, the ingredient, is one of the gems of nature, or that part of nature that we harvest and eat. But South Africans have another ingredient that we hold close to our hearts while we wonder in amazement why the rest of the world seems blithely unaware of it. They call it a 'gourd'. They ask, what do you do with that? I'm talking about our humble, beloved gem squash. And, as you may or may not know by now, the gem squash is the hero of one of my signature recipes, parmesan gem squash. And it's so much 'mine' that when you google those three words, guess whose recipe comes up at the top of the queue? I may have blushed. But I have a gem squash soup as well, and guess what: it has parmesan in it too. And it has saffron too. And onion, and garlic, and cream, but no vanilla. That would be silly. Tony's gem squash and parmesan soup with saffron Ingredients (Serves 2-4) 8 plump gem squash 4 Tbs Butter 2 medium onions, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, smashed 1.2 litres veg stock 100ml cream Generous pinch of saffron 2 Tbs grated or shaved Parmesan per portion 150g finely grated Parmesan Salt and pepper to taste Method Melt butter in a big, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the onions and garlic and sauté gently on a low heat heat five minutes, stirring now and then. Peel and chop the gem squash, remove the seeds and add. Add the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the squash is soft. Cool a little and blend until smooth. Return to the stove, pour in the cream and add the salt, pepper (go carefully, it must not overpower the saffron) and saffron. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn't catch at the bottom. Taste and adjust seasoning of you like – that includes the saffron. If too subtle, add a little more and let it simmer to take up the flavour. Finally, stir in the finely grated parmesan. Serve with grated or shavings of Parmesan on top and a deft sprinkling of saffron. DM
