Plastic Produce Bags I use the bags in the produce section for waste like vegetable skins, rinds and other throw away items. It's faster and easier than visiting the garbage can all the time. It's a variation of Rachael Ray's tip to use a bowl for waste but without the clean up.
One day I was hungry for lunch and had some leftover chicken breasts. Next thing I saw in the fridge was calamata olives. So I thought, why not make a chicken salad sandwich with Greek flavors?!? I pulled out pepperoncinis next. My wife loves them so we always have a couple bottles on hand. I also found some feta cheese I hadn't completely used on another recipe. A little mayonnaise, some diced red onion and a pinch of oregano and I had myself a surprise winner.
Chicken breasts are hard to cook evenly due to their irregular size. They are a little rounded and thicker at the large end. Pounding the breast out just a little with a Meat Mallet really helps get a juicy chicken breast with no surprise pink in the middle. The picture above shows the before and after results of some light pounding. The breast is now even across the top so the center gets cooked sooner. Thirty seconds of work for a juicier chicken breast seems like a good trade off.
Season both sides of the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder while an Iron Grill Pan is heating up on medium high. Grill the meat for approximately five minutes per side, rotating halfway through on each side to get cross hatch grill marks. The chicken is done when it is firm to the touch. When I think it is done, I like to turn off the heat and let the meat cook a little longer with residual heat from the pan.
Let the meat cool for ten minutes on a cutting board before dicing it. The size of your chicken chunks depends on your personality. I like large chunks usually so I get a great taste of meat in every bite. Small chunks might be your calling if you like each piece of meat to be surrounded by mayo and other bits of goodness.
Dice the olives, onion and pepperoncinis and mix all the ingredients together with just enough mayonnaise to cover the chicken lightly. Rather than smother the mixture with tons of mayonnaise, I prefer to spread some on each side of the bread if I am serving a mayo lover. But to each his own. Feel free to add as much a mayonnaise as you so desire :)
Serve your Greek chicken salad on any bread you like, even a bagel. Add some salty chips and something sour like a pickle or pepperoncini and you have a tasty lunch that didn't take long to prepare!
Grilled Chicken Breasts (About 1.25 Pounds or 2 Chicken Breasts - Chopped or Diced)
1/2
Tsp
Salt
1/4
Tsp
Garlic Powder
1/4
Tsp
Black Pepper (Freshly Ground)
Salad
12
Each
Calamata Olives (Diced)
2
Each
Pepperoncinis (Diced)
1/2
Cup
Feta Cheese (Chopped)
2
Pinches
Oregano or Italian Herbs
1/4
Tsp
Black Pepper (Freshly ground)
2
Pinches
Salt
1/3
Cup
Mayonnaise (The Real Stuff)
1/3
Cup
Red Onion (Diced)
Steps:
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Grill Chicken
Season the chicken breasts and grill on medium high for five minutes per side. Let rest for ten minutes before chopping or dicing. Or, use leftover chicken breasts.
Dice and Chop Ingredients
Chop the Feta Cheese and dice the olives, pepperoncinis and onions.
Mix and Serve
Mix all the ingredients together and scoop onto lightly toasted bread. Add think layer of mayo to each bread slice along with lettuce and tomato.
Comments:
Gretchen
11/13/2015
This is a tasty and unusual change from 'ordinary' chicken salad. I think this has become my go to chicken salad. Very creative.
