Waldorf Chicken Salad

This week I met with my conversation partner, So-Yeoun, to make a cold, healthy summer sandwich.  We had a lot of fun cooking as her two boys, Daniel and David, came along to join in.  Follow along, as I share our cooking experience with you.

From Wikipedia, the Waldorf salad was first created between 1893 and 1896 at the

Waldorf Hotel in New York City.  Oscar Tschirky, who was the Waldorf's maitre d'hotel, is widely credited with creating this recipe.  The original recipe contained apples and celery, dressed in mayonnaise and served on a bed of lettuce.  The original recipe did not contain nuts.

I remember Mom making this salad when I was growing up.  She would put raisins in hers.  Sometimes, she would add mini marshmallows and fresh bananas, also.

There have been a lot of variations of this salad since Oscar introduced it at the

Waldorf Hotel.  The variation we made turned the salad into a healthy, satisfying sandwich.

An important part of cooking basics is to shop for the ingredients.  Today, 

we went to our local HyVee store.  We had our list of ingredients.  

Whenever possible, we use fresh vegetables, meats, and produce.

Our local HyVee grocery store.

We chose a fresh lemon rather than a bottle of lemon juice.

We found the perfect apple.

Fresh red seedless grapes.

We use store brands whenever possible.  

Packaged walnuts.

Shopping is fun.

Fresh chicken from the meat case.
We chose some that already had seasoning.

  

Refrigerated tortillas.

 Waldorf Chicken Salad

1. Oven Bake the chicken, a must-know for all cooks.  Things you will need.

• Chicken (1-lb. raw boneless skinless chicken equals 2 1/2 cups chopped chicken).
• Olive oil
• Oven safe pan 
• Salt & Pepper

Assemble the ingredients.

Drizzle olive oil into baking pan.

                                             

Place chicken breasts evenly spaced apart in the baking
pan on top of the olive oil.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top of the chicken.
We added some Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning.

Pour a little water into the bottom of the baking pan, just
enough to prevent the chicken sticking to the bottom of the pan
or drying out.

Place baking pan into 350 degree preheated oven
 for 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/8  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
• 2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (or a great  use for left over chicken)
• 1 medium red apple
• 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• sliced bread, flour tortillas, or croissants
• large lettuce leaves, red or green

Assemble the ingredients for the dressing.

Measure 2/3 cup mayo.

Cut lemon & squeeze 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Add lemon juice to mayo in bowl.

Measure 1/8 teaspoon salt & add to bowl.

Measure 1/4 teaspoon black pepper & add to bowl.

Measure 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder & add to bowl.

Mix the ingredients well.

Refrigerate the dressing mixture while you are
preparing the other ingredients.

Assemble ingredients to be chopped.
Red seedless grapes, red apple, celery,and walnuts.

Rinse produce in cold water.

Finely dice 1 stalk of celery.

Core and chop 1 medium apple (unpeeled).

Add diced celery to dressing bowl.

Cut 1 cup red seedless grapes in half.

Add halved red seedless grapes to mayo mixture.

Add chopped apple to mixture.

Add 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped.

Dice the chicken breast when cool.
It should be about 2 1/2 cups if you cooked 1-lb of
raw boneless chicken breast.

Add to the other ingredients in the bowl.

Stir mixture well to coat .  The lemon in the dressing
will keep the apple from turning brown.

Taste for seasonings and flavor.

The mixture is ready to assemble the sandwiches
or to make wraps.

Artisan bread, this is tomato basil.

Fresh leaf lettuce, red or green.

Fresh tomatoes, these are Roma.

Flour tortillas.

To make each sandwich, lay out 1 slice bread and top with a lettuce leaf.  Evenly place a scoop

of the chicken salad over the lettuce.  Top with the other slice of bread.
This makes 6-8 sandwiches.

This is the tomato basil bread with red
leaf lettuce.

The Waldorf chicken salad is piled between
a sliced croissant with red leaf lettuce.

The chicken salad is rolled in a tortilla with red lettuce
and sliced in half.