An autumnal chicken salad with crunch and a sweet surprise

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.

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This dish is photographed in a bowl by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.