Home Smoked Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

My new addiction is home smoked chicken thanks to the outdoor grilling class at Cook at Cook the Books. It really does put all of the bought stuff to shame.  So much moister, lighter and delicately flavoured with herbs and aromatics.  Even better it really couldn't be easier.  Make a brine, let it cool, brine the chicken for a couple of hours, heat up the BBQ, soak some wood chips, chuck wood chips on BBQ, place the chicken on a foil tray and on to the BBQ and let the smoking begin.  45 minutes later and you have some totally delicious home smoked chicken.  You won't buy the store bought stuff again, ever again.  So this summer I think there will be a lot of smoking, on the BBQ that is!  Most definitely fish and thinking an apple wood smoked pork fillet would work a treat too, not to mention some rosemary smoked lamb.

Today saw the smoked chicken made its way in to a salad.  I wanted light, but lots of flavour and I like a few different textures plus it's a food blog so I wanted it to look pretty too.  Well I think this salad delivers on all counts.  Pretty as picture, festive even, full of flavour and all sorts of tasty little morsels loitering on the plate.

Home Smoked Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

Serves 4

4 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup fresh chickpeas, if you can't get your hands on fresh substitute with the canned stuff.

1 smoked chicken breast, sliced

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Dressing

Mustard Vinaigrette

1 tsp grainy mustard

1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar, I used muscatel as it has such a lovely sweetness.

Salt

Directions

Place the spinach on a platter and top with the chickpeas and most of the cranberries.  Add the sliced chicken and sprinkle over the toasted almonds and the rest of the cranberries.  For the dressing whisk together all the ingredients, taste and season as needed.  Season with a little salt and pepper and drizzle with a little of the dressing and tuck in.

This could be my new favourite salad.  The chicken so moist and subtly infused with all the goodness from its briny bath.  Add to that the fresh chickpeas, fresher and an almost pea like flavour, the dried cranberries bring a not too sweet fruitiness and the crunchy toasty almonds all drizzled with a little mustard vinaigrette was really seriously tasty. A little festive flecked with crimson cranberries and the perfect lighter dish for the upcoming festive season and all the inevitable, but delicious, over indulgences.

If you like this you might like this Grilled Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

One Year Ago Broad Bean and Pea Dip

Enjoy!

cookingwithkary 56 pts

Great photo, I can almost taste all the great flavors! Red grapes with chicken salad are tasty as well. Cheers!

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Toast - Mairi 6 pts

cookingwithkary Thank you :)

Conversation from Facebook

Polish Mama on the Prairie

It is delicious. Any fruit that would pair well with chicken in stuffing would do well in chicken salad. I've had it with leeks, apricots, grapes, etc. Not all at once but chicken salad is a great way to use up not only left over chicken but leftover fruits. The almonds is a brilliant idea.

Jill Jennings Grant

I put cranberries like crasins and some apple and sliced almonds.

Christina Castellon

I love chicken salad with cranberries, this is one of the ways I make it at home! Delish!

Suzy Aaron Riccon

I put grapes and apples in my chicken and turkey salads all the time. It's yummy!

Njunkie Christine

mmm

Cheryl Tomaselli Baden

It is good in turkey salad as well.

Chris Olson

Sounds yummy!

Carolyn West

Try putting in dried cherries. They are a little more tart and are amazing with chicken.

Ruth Coker Burks

I love fruit cooked with my chicken or port,, i chop up garlic cranberries and rosemary really fine and stuff it under the skin of a chicken and then pour EVOO all over hin or her and either grill or bake it..oh, sooo good!

Elaine Springer Griffin

It's the best!!! We put cranberries in everything.

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Home Smoked Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Almonds