Chicken Salad with Red Grapes Green and Red Onion Mayo and Sour Cream

Posted on 3 Aug, 2021 - By Woody Mosgers

Servings: 6

Cook time: 4 hours to chill or better over night

Prep time: 1 hour

For the salad
4 cups (1 1/2lbs.) / chicken breast, diced into small, bite sized pieces. (see poaching instructions below)
2 cups / chicken stock
2 medium stalks (1/2 cup) / celery finely chopped
1 1/2 cups / red grapes halved
3/4 cup / pine nuts toasted in a small skillet and chopped (substitute almonds or pecans)
3 Tbls / fresh parsley leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp / smoked paprika to taste (optional)
Few Pinches / dried tarragon (optional)
Using a food processor pulse celery, onions, pine nuts and parsley so they are just uniform in size.
For the dresssing
3/4 cup / mayonnaise
2 tbls / sour cream
4 tsp / lemon juice
1 tbl / Djion mustard or to taste
1/2 tsp / sugar
good pinch / salt and pepper to taste check before mixing with chicken

For the salad
Place the chopped chicken in a large bowl.
Add the celery, red onion, grapes, pine nuts and parsley to the bowl.
For the dressing
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper, check for seasoning.
Pour the dressing over the chicken and vegetable mixture. Toss gently to coat. Chill for at least four hours and much better overnight, trust me.
To poach the chicken breasts:
Place chicken breasts halves and stock in sauce pot large enough to hold chicken and be sure chicken is covered by stock, add water to cover. Add 2 bay leaves and 4 parsley stems.
Bring the stock to a light simmer over med. heat- not a boil. Simmer for 7 min. uncovered. Remove from heat and temp check the breasts with an instant read thermometer, finish temp should be 165 degrees so depending on the temp you have and cover allow to sit for 10 min checking temp at five minutes and so on. Chicken should be cooked thoroughly but don’t overcook. Return to a simmer for 2 min if additional cooking time is necessary.
Lift chicken pieces from the pot into a strainer and drain. Pat the meat dry with paper towel and place on cutting board and cut into small bite-size pieces and transfer to a large bowl and chill before mixing into dressing.