Fruited Chicken Salad

Ruth McLeod brought this to the January meeting.

Lunches at Historical League meetings are so-o-o yummy. This dish makes a beautiful presentation and easy to prepare hours ahead. It can be doubled/tripled to feed a larger group. The fun part is getting fresh fruit in season to garnish. This time I used Kiwi.

Fruited Chicken Salad

Ingredients for the chicken salad:
2 chicken breasts or 2 (12.5 ounce) cans chicken
1 tablespoon lemon pepper

20 green grapes, cut in half
½ cup dried cranberries, slightly chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 cup chopped cucumbers

½ red bell pepper, diced

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Mustard Vinaigrette

Argula
*Note: Adding other fruits makes a more flavorful salad: add 1/2 cup dried apricots, 1/2 cup dried blueberries, 1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries, 1/2 cup chopped fresh oranges, and/or 1/2 cup chopped fresh apple.

Directions for the chicken salad:
Dust the chicken with the lemon pepper and sear or grill until cooked through. Let cool, then chop into ½ inch cubes. In a bowl, mix the chicken with grapes, cranberries, celery, pepper and mayonnaise. Add the vinaigrette and mix.

Ingredients for the mustard vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper

½ cup salad oil
Directions for the mustard vinaigrette:
Place the mustard, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk together. Add the oil in a slow stream while whisking, until fully incorporated.
Prepare in large bowl adding argula just before serving. Arrange sliced strawberries, sliced avocados and/or sliced oranges in circle on top. Sprinkle with toasted slivered almonds.