I love summer. Specifically, I love July. July is the month that I can take my vacation and some much needed time off.
I won’t get on a soap box or anything today, but July is the month that I get to totally be out of the office. (I do still work on school stuff, but from home. I also check my work email a LOT more sporadically.)
July is for spending time at the lake, spending time with family and friends, and maybe even getting away on a vacay if we’re lucky. It is also the month that I pretend I am one of those ladies who lunch. 🙂
I set lunch dates with The Hubs, with peers from other school districts (who are also enjoying the limited time off), and friends and family who often get ignored when things get busy again in the fall. It is so nice to dine at a popular lunch spot on the patio and not in the cafeteria with teenagers.
Just sayin’.
Recently, my best friend and I had a great lunch at Cosmo in Tulsa where I had a delicious curried chicken salad. It was so good I wanted to have it again and again so I rushed home and try to replicate it. I think I got pretty close. What surprised me the most is The Hubs loved this salad too.
Curried Chicken Salad with Cucumbers
based on Curried Chicken Salad by Ina Garten3 large whole chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 c. mayonnaise
3/4 c. sour cream
1/3 c. dry white wine
3 T. curry powder
1 t. fine sea salt
1 c. diced cucumbers
1/4 c. diced shallotsPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a foil-lined sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice or shred the chicken (to your liking).
For the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, wine, curry powder, and 1 t. salt in a blender. Process until smooth.
Combine the chicken with enough dressing to moisten well. Add the cucumbers and onions and mix well. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.
Serve in a sandwich form or on top of arugula or other spicy greens with a drizzle of balsamic.
I love that Ina’s original recipe directed to roast the chicken. This is how I will prepare chicken for salad from now on. I have a plethora of cucumbers, but you could obviously sub in celery, sweet peppers (which I almost did as well), or other veggies.
As July comes to a close, I need to plan some more lunch dates………. (Anybody in?)
Comments & Replies
30 responses to “Curried Chicken Salad with Cucumbers”
I wanna have lunch with you too! I love this chicken salad. So those are bits of cucumber….cool. There’s something about the flavor that’s so, so summery. That and watermelon. I love roasting my chicken for chicken salads too. It adds a whole bunch more flavor. I’m so glad you’re having a fantastic vacation. Any magazines I need to know about??
We will have to plan a virtual lunch! I only used the cukes b/c I didn’t have any celery and obviously, I had an abundance of cucumbers! No new magazines unless you want to county New Mexico mag (which I broke down and subscribed to) but they usually have at least a couple of food articles.
I am a big fan of curry chicken..and this would be great for the lunch.Definitely a must make.
It was great for lunches.
Summer Time and the livin’ is easy—except for you It would be July Time and the livin’ is easy. I love chicken salads. It brings up some very pleasant childhood memories about my Mom’s friend and our neighbor Mrs. Gillette. I pinned this. I need to make a chicken salad to honor her. She was a terrible oook, except for chicken salad.
And, until recently, I was not happy with my chicken salad, until I nabbed my mother-in-law’s recipe. (Find it here.) I am laughing at that last sentence!
Where is this Cosmo place? I’m excited to tell you that OKC is preparing a place like you all have – the food truck round-up place? It’s near Detroit Ave. where they park around this park area – I’m happy to hear about a place like that coming here. The chicken salad with curry sounds wonderful and since I put cucumbers on almost all my sandwiches, I’m glad to see those in this too!
Cosmo is on Brookside. Pretty cool place. So, will it be a permanent food truck court? Now, it is only on Wednesdays at lunch at Guthrie Green (and I have only one more Wednesday to try to make it there for lunch!)
Yes, apparently it will be a permanent food court – I guess I was always in Tulsa near it on Wednesday! 🙂 You must go………….it’s wonderful!
I will have to schedule that for the Wednesday …. my last free Wednesday….sigh…
We have cukes from our garden coming out of our ears. Well, figuratively. 😉 So I need this recipe. Thanks! This really looks good.
Hope you can use it. One can only make so many pickles. 🙂
As I was telling, John, Debra, dare I say, I’m not much of a fan of cucumbers but it seems they have gradually gotten on my good side, lol…I think it’s amazing that you could enjoy a recipe at a favorite restaurant and go home and replicate it. Oh how I wish I was capable of doing that:)
I’m delighted to hear you are enjoying your time off catching up with friends and family. July is my favorite Summer month too!!! I would LOVE to join you for lunch. The ingredients and presentation of this curried chicken salad looks delicious. I’d be more than willing to indulge:) Thank you so much for sharing, Debra…
Glad you are beginig to appreciate cukes! Standing lunch invitation, Louise?
I have half a rotisserie chicken to use up and this looks like a great way to do it. I love curry with chicken and the addition of cucumbers would make it light and crunchy. This will be perfect for the hot weekend coming up.
That would be a great use of it, Cathy!
Cucumbers would definitely give this a very refreshing flavour, what a great idea for the salad 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks you, Uru.
great idea.. definitely perfect for summer. never thought to do a chicken dish like this before. thanks for the idea!
Thanks, Thalia. I recommend it.
I love summer too although is quite hot here! prepare the table and I will be there to eat this delicious salad!
Getting really hot here, too. Triple digits this weekend. Table is being prepared. 🙂
I’m too far away for lunch, but I love the look of this salad – I’m always looking for another chicken salad recipe!
Hope this one fits the bill.
I love recreating things I’ve had in a restaurant and it’s so satisfying when I get it close. I love how you photographed this. Very pretty. Did I ever mention my sister lives in Tulsa?
Thanks, Lea Ann. Then, you know all the best places to eat in Tulsa.
I am totally in for lunch! That restaurant can go on the list of places we would like to stop in when we finally get to travel. Hoping to get another camper once we are close to retirement. I want to come have lunch with you!
It’s a date, Tina.
Hi Debra, I just stopped by to let you know that I nominated you for Most Inspiring Blog award. You can see the post at http://adayinthelifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/2014/07/wow-i-am-honored.html. Thanks for being an inspiration to me.
Cool beans, Wendy. You are too kind!!!!!