Chicken salad with tahini za'atar dressing

Sometimes you have to wrestle with a recipe a bit before you land in a spot that suits you.

This recipe appealed to me on several accounts. For one thing, once the snow recedes, it's chive season in my alley garden until snow falls again, so I'm always happy to find new recipes to use what amounts to a free commodity at my house. Also, I had bought a small jar of za'atar to use in another recipe that, ahem, I have yet to make, so it's a spice purchase guilt that needs to be assuaged. 

What didn't appeal to me about the original recipe was it was designed for a lettuce cup form. I object to it on the grounds of both structural integrity — pretty soon after you start eating them, you're basically looking a deconstructed salad that requires utensils — and it calls for romaine lettuce. I get why they specified that: With its firm ribs it's as good a candidate as any for trying to stand up to being pressed into service as a bread replacement. But while I can eat the leafy parts of romaine without ill effects, the ribs contain the same substance that makes iceberg lettuce crunchy, and me and a small subset of the population nauseous. 

So first I figured I'd just toss it all together like a salad.

Tahini chicken salad

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, March 2023. If you want to make the original recipe, buy romaine leaves to serve as lettuce cups. Not finding it on their website to link to, however.

Ingredients

¼ cup tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons za’atar spice mixture
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup salt
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Lettuce or other green leaves for lining bowl
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber
1 cup chopped cherry or grape tomatoes

Method

In a small bowl, combine tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, mustard, za’atar, cumin and salt. If tahini is thick, add a bit of water to get desired consistency.

In a medium bowl, mix chicken, celery, chives and enough of the dressing to reach desired consistency. I found it took much of it, but not all of it.

If serving as a salad, place lettuce leaves at the base of a bowl (or plates if you’re plating it instead of passing it). Top with chicken mixture. Top with cucumber and grape tomatoes. Pass extra dressing on the side.

If you’re serving as a wrap or sandwich, spread a thin layer of extra dressing on the wrap or bread. Top with cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce and roll up or top with the second slice of bread.

Rating: That dressing is very tasty and it make a very nice chicken salad dressing base. The cumin and za'atar add a really nice flavor to the tahini dressing. But even with water added it's too sludgy to really play well with the lettuce greens and just turns them to mush.

Take 2: So I tried it again as written above, this time mixing the chicken, celery and chives and placing that on a bed of lettuce with the cucumbers and tomatoes on top. It worked better, and I still really liked that dressing mixed with the chicken. (That dressing could totally work as a veggie dip.)

Take 3: But what I realized is this really wants to be a wrap, just not in lettuce form. or else a sandwich. Otherwise there's just too much disconnect otherwise between the lettuce component and the salad itself. Sure enough, in wrap form, this was a dandy chicken salad sandwich.

Green goddess tuna salad sandwiches, green goddess dip(s)

 

It's interesting what passes under the umbrella of green goddess dressing. Lots of latitude in the recipes one finds online. Wikipedia cites its source as a San Francisco hotel in the 1920s. I remember being not super impressed by what came out of the standard bottle as a kid, but the bright flavors of a freshly made dressing has merit.

Thanks to adding more grow lights in the basement this winter, we had a fairly healthy tarragon plant to take outside this spring, and green goddess goodness seemed like a way to make some inroads into the supply.

Green goddess tuna salad sandwiches
Adapted from Bon Appetit, March 2018. Serves 2.

Ingredients
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup fresh parsley
¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of half a lemon, divided
1 (5-ounce) can tuna, drained
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 small shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup mixed chopped herbs, such as parsley, basil, dill, and/or chervil
2 English muffins, toasted

Method
In a blender or food processor, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, basil, parsley, tarragon, 2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and puree.

In a small bowl, mix tuna, celery, shallot, garlic and enough of the dressing to reach desired consistency, probably 2 to 3 tablespoons. Store remaining dressing for another use.

Toss mixed herbs with remaining lemon juice, 1 teaspoon olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

Place tuna mixture on toasted English muffin half. Top with chopped herbs and remaining muffin half.

Rating: Providing you make the dressing in advance, this makes a pretty fast tasty weekday lunch. Other reviewers had said the dressing to tuna ratio was off. I agree, but instead of adding twice the amount of tuna, which seemed to be the standard fix, I just opted to have leftover dressing, since one can of tuna is plenty to pile onto two English muffins. Any more and it becomes logistically not viable.

Besides, that leftover dressing makes a killer dip for veggies or chips. 

Green goddess ricotta dip
Adapted from Abra’s Kitchen, by Abra Pappa. I upped the garlic from the original and was glad I did, since otherwise it would have been undetectable by our standards.

Ingredients
1½ cups ricotta
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup mixed herbs (I used basil, tarragon, chives, parsley and dill)
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Method
Combine all ingredients in a food process or blender until smooth. 

Rating: Not bad. Fast to fix, easy to make ahead. But having recently used the leftover dressing from the sandwich recipe as a dip, this wasn't quite as tasty. Fine enough to  make if that's what you have on hand, though.

Green Goddess Feta Dip
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven, who in turn adapted it from Melissa Clark of the New York Times

Ingredients
5 ounces feta cheese, plus more for garnish
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large or two small avocados, peeled and pitted
1 lemon, juiced
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup fresh dill
½ cup fresh chives
3 tablespoons lemon balm leaves*
1 tablespoon tarragon leaves
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup olive oil

Method
Combine everything but olive oil in a food processor and puree briefly. With motor running, blend in olive oil. Season  to taste with salt and pepper.Garnish with more crumbled feta if desired.

*You could substitute mint for the lemon balm and/or tarragon if need be. Just don’t invite me.

Rating: Perfectly tasty, and tastier than the ricotta version, although they both have their uses. The only disadvantage to this one is that you've got to have a just-right avocado on hand, so it's less pantry/frig friendly than the ricotta version. 

Still saying the leftover dressing from the tuna sandwiches makes the best dip of the three. That one I'd definitely make again with or without the tuna sandwich treatment. 

And amazingly, the tarragon plant is still going strong.

Egg salad sandwiches with olives and bacon

 

If you're one of those people for whom Easter means needing to do something with hard-cooked eggs, here's a variation on a usual suspect.

All-time favorite egg salad and olive sandwiches
Adapted from “Sunday Soup” by Betty Rosbottom

Ingredients
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
1 ½ tablespoons chopped pimento-stuffed green olives
2 tablespoons mayonnaise, plus more for spreading bread
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 slices white sandwich bread, lightly toasted
4 slices bacon, fried until crisp and golden
4 butterhead lettuce leaves

Method
Combine eggs, celery, olives, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Spread mayonnaise on one side of toasted bread. Divide egg mixture among two bread halves. Top with half of bacon and half of lettuce and then remaining bread slices. 

Rating: So the thing that's supposed to make this special is the olives. And they're fine. But really, who are we trying to kid here? Putting bacon on egg salad is the part that's cheating, but in a good way.