Salad With Chicken And Tarragon, from one of the Delia Smith books

[Catriona]

(Can't remember which book I took this from - I own all her books!).

This is ideal for a spring or summer lunch. To make it more substantial, say for an evening meal, make a rice salad to go with it and serve both with lots of crusty French bread or with new potatotes (Jersey Royals are the 'cream' of British potatoes and are coming into season now. In my local supermarket at the weekend they were nearly BPS 2.00 (British pound Sterling) per lb! Luckily, they get much cheaper over the next few weeks!

We're eating this tonight. I cooked the chicken yesterday, at the same time as I was roasting a leg of lamb for a traditional Sunday roast meal!

Serves 4-6

1 cooked chicken, about 3 lb (1.35 kg) or 33/4 lb (1.7 kg) raw weight
1 heaped teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
4 oz (110 g) seedless green grapes, halved
5 fl oz (150 ml) mayonnaise, preferably home-made
3 fl oz (75 ml) double cream
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1 small lettuce, washed and allowed to dry
few sprigs watercress
salt and freshly milled black pepper


Remove the skin from the chicken and slice the flesh into longish pieces where possible. Remove all the chicken from the bones and place all the meat in a bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper.

In a separate bowl, mix the mayonnaise thoroughly with the cream, adding the chopped tarragon and finely chopped spring onions. Now pour the sauce over the chicken, mix it well so that all the chicken pieces get a good coating, then arrange it on a plate of crisp lettuce leaves and garnish with green grapes and a few sprigs of watercress.

[Shadows]

Yummm! I know what I am having for lunch! I think I will grill chicken breasts instead of roasting a whole chicken though ( takes less time ).

Thanks sounds real good!!!!