by Marcus Bentley Wise

Created on: January 04, 2010   Last Updated: January 05, 2010

You can make a chicken salad a hundred ways and they all would be great. Especially if you use a roasted or smoked chicken. But if I was going to make one I would do it like this. 

60g/2½oz Chicken meat (From a roasted or smoked chicken beat to have a mix of leg and breast meat is best.)

400g/14oz Salad leaves

25g/1oz Fresh chives

25g/1oz Fresh parsley

2 Sprigs fresh thyme

3 Rashers of Streaky bacon

60g/2½oz Boiled salad potatoes

50ml/4tdsp extra virgin olive oil

10ml/2tsp Lemon juice

10ml/2tsp Runny honey

15g/3tsp Whole grain mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

First you get your chicken and then cut it in to strips. Unless the skin is very crispy I normally take it off as cold chicken skin is not as nice as hot chicken skin. Then place it in to a nice big bowl.

Then add the salad leaves to the bowl and a goo amount of fresh herbs. If you can pick you salad leaves I would go for the more robust ones that will take a little heat as you will see why latter. As for the herbs I like to use chives, parsley and the leaves of fresh thyme as well.

Now the next thing to do is get a pan on the stove and heat that up. Dices the streaky bacon and start to fry it in the pan. You want to cook it so that it becomes rather crispy. As the bacon cooks take your cold salad potatoes and add them to the pan so that every thing can sauté together. This way all the lovely crystallizing juices from the bacon start to stick to the potato. You have no need to add any oil or any thing like that as plenty come from the bacon. Also I like to season the potato and bacon with a good grind of black pepper as well. 

Now back in you large bowl add some runny honey, whole grain mustard and olive oil. Start to toss everything together. Once you have got everything nicely cover then add the potato and bacon and quickly toss everything once more. Then present it all in a nice bug bow and eat straight away.

Now I know that with a salad you do not want to be cooling things and you can make it with out the warm bacon and potatoes, but trust me it gives it a lift that you will find well worth doing.  

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