Chicken Salad

By Paul Briand

The idea here is for a portable meal -- to take on a picnic, take to the beach, take outside on the porch.

It also smacks of summer, clean and sweet, enhanced by the dried cherries.

We've had this straight up and we've had it as a wrap.

One diversion we made from the original recipe, which we found in Relish magazine, was to replace grilled chicken with a roasted chicken from the grocery. It made a simple meal to prepare even more simple.

Ingredients

1 roasted chicken with meat removed

or

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

Black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 1/2 pound chicken tenders

Salad:

1 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1 tablespoon mustard (Creole mustard is suggested in recipe, I went with Dijon)

1 tablespoon chopped chives

Black pepper

Directions

1. To prepare the grilled chicken, combine all ingredients except chicken in a large bowl. Stir well. Add chicken to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least an hour;

2. Prepare grill to medium heat;

3. Remove chicken from marinade and discard the marinade. Grill chicken for about 3 minutes each side until thoroughly cooked;

4. To prepare salad, combine all ingredients. Add cooked grilled chicken (or the meat -- sans skin -- you had stripped from the roasted chicken). Toss well and serve.