Dad's Chicken Salad

 [Insert picture of sandwich here! 

Ate it before I even thought to take a picture! Whoops! ]

I've been craving a chicken salad sandwich for the last 12 years. Sure I've had a few chicken salad sandwiches here and there over the years, but unfortunately none of them compared to the one my dad used to serve at his restaurant he had when I was a kid. Because my parents were split we'd go visit dad on the weekends, the meeting place often being his restaurant that was in downtown Sacramento. Mom would drop us off and we would hang out for a few hours and eat dinner while dad finished closing up shop. Now I'm the type of person that once I like something I stick to it, sometimes that leads to me getting sick of something because I get too much of it at the beginning. I wouldn't call it obsession but I just know what I like and I'm loyal to it. This was the case with that chicken salad sandwich, I would have it for dinner every single weekend, never growing tired of it.

When dad decided to sell the restaurant 12 years ago, he never made that chicken salad again. I guess it's somewhat of a process to make, but I think the main reason he hasn't made it since is he just never got around it. But that doesn't mean I forgot about it. It's a very simple recipe to make dad's chicken salad but I guess I was in the same boat as him and just never got around to making it all these years, that was until last night.

A few nights prior my boyfriend had picked up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for dinner as I had been craving chicken for some reason. I don't normally cook chicken at home, I guess because I like the bone in chicken and my boyfriend likes boneless skinless chicken breast so that might be one reason. But I guess you can't beat the convenience of picking up a nicely seasoned  juicy rotisserie chicken. I made some rice to go along with it, and that was that. Being that it was just my boyfriend and I eating the chicken that night, we had a ton of left over meat still left on the chicken, and that's when I got the bright idea to finally make dad's famous chicken salad which had been in the back of my mind since the last time I had some all those years ago.

So that brings us to last night, when I put my plan into action. I didn't mention earlier but I always had my chicken salad sandwich served on a french roll, and last night was no different. Had the boyfriend pick up some rolls on his way home while I got down and dirty picking the meat off of the chicken. It did take quite a little time to get all of the meat off, but once I did it was pretty quick to put together after that. 

As I mentioned this chicken salad recipe is super basic, which is why I could never find a good chicken salad out there because they all are "over complicated" (for lack of a better word). The only decent chicken salad I could find out there was actually from Wendy's but I don't like grapes in my chicken salad so they were out. Here's what I did....

Dad's Basic Chicken Salad Recipe

Prep Time: 20 -30 mins or so
(or however long it takes for you to get 
your chicken meat together)

Whatcha Need

Cooked chicken

Celery 

(optional)

Mayo

Black Pepper

  French Roll 

 (optional, but not really in my book)

Method

*Get yo chicken ready! Pick it, slice it,
shred it (do what ya gotta do)

you want to end up with little pieces at the end of it all

*Mix chicken, celery, mayo, and black pepper in a large bowl

*Let mix chill for 5 mins or so if desired

(I do this so the mayo will have a chance to set)

*Serve on a toasted French roll with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and pickles

(Or whatever you want but that's what a true Noonie's chicken salad sandwich would have on it) ;)

Pretty damn easy right? I don't know why I waited so long to make this for myself but I know definitely won't be going another 12 years without one of these bad boys!! 

Until next time...Cheers!!!