This chicken salad has been in the making for quite a few years now. When I worked in downtown Miami, many years ago, our offices use to order most of our catering with Perricone’s Marketplace & Café.

And my favorite sandwich in the menu was their World famous Chicken Salad. Their version is prepared with golden raisins, roasted pine nuts, granny smith apples, basil, poached chicken breast and a touch of mayo.

When I moved away, I always missed the sandwich and so, there was nothing to do but try to duplicate it.

And as cooks we know that unless you know the actual recipe, duplications may work against you or for you.

In this case, Perricone’s recipe was a jumping point for my own world famous chicken salad.

You can go the long route and poach your own chicken for this, but I have used the supermarket-roasted chicken when I’m in a hurry, or when lazy sets in. Both work equally well and none will be the wiser.

MONICA’S WORLD FAMOUS CHICKEN SALAD

1 whole roast chicken – if you go with your supermarket option – skin off, and meat picked off the bone, then cut into pieces (I take a pair of scissors and chop away). Ultimately you can poach your chicken (use a combination of breast and thigh meat) by using some of these recipes here, here and here.
1 cup walnuts – toasted and roughly chopped (or pine nuts if you want to go the expensive route)
1 granny smith apple – cored and cut into small bite pieces
1-2 green onions – chopped finely
1 cup of golden raisins
½ cup of dried cranberries
a handful of fresh basil, chopped (about 1-2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice (half of 1 lime)
salt and ground pepper to taste

for the dressing

1 cup of mayo
½ cup of sour cream
1 teaspoon of mustard
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of pepper jelly
dash of your favorite hot sauce (I use my go to Sriracha sauce)
1 teaspoon of fresh lime juice (half of 1 lime)
salt and ground pepper to taste

This is the easy part – Take all of the first ingredients and mix them in a bowl, season it with salt and pepper (taste it and adjust as needed)… I sometimes like to add an additional tablespoon of pepper jelly here and mix it in…gives it a kick – but this is totally optional.

Next up, mix in another bowl your dressing. Again, taste, taste and taste again and adjust your seasoning. I like my dressing to be tart and a bit sweet at the same time, so it’s all about balance. If it’s to loose, I add more mayonnaise, if it’s too dense, I adjust with a bit of more sour cream or lime juice.

Final step, marry the dressing with your bowl of goodness and fold until the whole thing is nice and wet. It’s ok if it looks like there is more dressing; remember the chicken will soak up all of this.

I don’t serve my salad until the next day – giving all of the flavors time to mesh well together.

Serve on your favorite bread, on top of endive leaves for a nice appetizer presentation or on toasted bread to make a crostini.