One of my favorite culinary tricks is to take food from one meal and turn it into something completely different. I've never been one of those people who can eat the same thing meal after meal (both my father and Scott can happily eat from the same batch of chili for an entire week). So refreshing my leftovers becomes a necessity if I don't want to waste food or let things go bad.
The chicken salad you see above is a perfect example of this leftover revamp. Yesterday at lunch time, I ran home to my apartment to pull together something to eat. I didn't want to eat the chili (you thought I was kidding) because I knew that it was on the schedule for dinner but I still needed something fast. I grabbed the last of the chicken I had roasted Sunday night (I did three bone-in chicken breasts with a fresh bay leaf tucked under the skin) and gave it a rough chop. I tossed it in the plastic container you see above and added three chopped celery ribs, half a diced red onion and two-thirds of a red pepper.
The dressing is a little bit of mayo mixed a bunch of fat-free Greek yogurt (if you haven't tried Greek yogurt, you've got to give it a taste as it's super creamy and less tart than the conventional stuff). I sprinkled in some salt, pepper, garlic powder (say what you will, in a pinch I love it) and some fresh dill. I ate about half of what you see there over some baby greens for lunch and I'm planning on having the rest for lunch today (it was so yummy that I don't mind having it two days in a row).
What's your go-to leftover refresh recipe?
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-03-2008 @ 2:26AM
Kitt said...
I sometimes buy a rotisserie chicken just so I can make chicken salad the next day, and then soup and enchiladas and ...
What's also really good is baking a tube of the Pillsbury French loaf, and then making a chicken salad sandwich with it fresh from the oven.
Yes, I should be roasting the chicken myself, and I do make my own bread, but sometimes you go with what you have time for.
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4-03-2008 @ 11:27AM
Trisha said...
When I make breaded and baked chicken cutlets, I'll make twice as many as we need for dinner. The leftovers make great sandwiches, ad-hoc chicken parm, and with a little hot sauce, almost-buffalo tenders.
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4-03-2008 @ 12:46PM
Laura said...
I roasted a chicken last weekend. Tuesday night I shredded some of the leftover meat, mixed with BBQ sauce, and made sandwiches. Last night I made chicken salad from the rest. I also saved the carcass in the freezer so I can make stock, although I never feel like there's time for that.
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4-03-2008 @ 11:29PM
Simon Arch said...
I've been making chicken salad quite a bit this last week. I got about 5lbs of chicken breast and smoked it all on the grill last weekend. For lunches I just chop up one or two and mix with whatever crunchies I have on hand. It's pretty tasty. For variety I minced half a chipotle and mixed in about a teaspoon of the adobo sauce.
It's quick and it's better than Carl's Jr or Burger King or whatever. Cheaper, too.
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