Including a food feature in the November issue of this magazine has become a tradition,
and this year several of our staff submitted some of their favorite between-the-holidays recipes.
But one recipe nominated for the story – one the staff likes me to make here at the office – was disqualified because its title, ingredients and instructions were too long to fit.
So, let's see if I can get my recipe for salad with roasted chicken to fit here, along with a
couple of disclaimers and suggestions.

One disclaimer – if you include everything I normally do in this dish, you will find it can be
rather expensive to make and Lord only knows how many calories are in each generous serving of this "salad" and suggested accompaniments. This is not a quick meal to prepare unless some of those looking forward to consuming this recipe volunteer to help chop and assemble its ingredients.

Here's a suggestion – invite the dozen or so friends or family members the salad will feed to each bring one of its many ingredients and/or help in the kitchen. Also, I can't vouch for your results if you make any substitutions in the listed ingredients or methods. For instance, you can use bagged, ready-to-serve lettuce but you must rinse and drain it first, even if it says on the package it's already rinsed and ready to serve. And I will only use a Harp's, right-out-of-the-oven, "no solution" rotisserie chicken for the salad. And, for the dressing, only freshly peeled and finely chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil and real
apple cider vinegar.

But even if you follow this recipe exactly, your results may vary because I adjust the
ingredients to suit our group's specific tastes ("not enough vinegar..." Donna Payne will
call out from the graphics department as she gets a whiff of the dressing while it’s heating
in our breakroom microwave).

So, you may have to experiment a time or two before you get the salad to taste perfect
for you. But once you do, we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do!

Linda's Tangy Chicken Salad
(Or Fuel for Deadlines!)
Serves about 12

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 regular whole chickens, still warm from the rotisserie,
torn or cut into bite size pieces.

2 bags of hearts of Romaine lettuce – or 1 bag Romaine and 1 bag mixed
salad greens of your choice.

2 8-oz bags of cubed cheese
(we like cheddar and colby/jack)

2 or 3 large Gala apples and 1 Fuji apple, chopped

4 large ripe but firm unpeeled nectarines, coarsely chopped
1 large jar of mixed tropical fruit (from the refrigerator case in produce)

2 1/2 cups dried cranberries or other mixed dried fruit

1 cup pecan pieces

1 cup English walnut pieces

1 cup salted or lightly salted cashews

2 fresh lemons and 2 fresh limes

Dressing:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

About 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar (you can add a little Balsamic vinegar)

6 large cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced or finely chopped

1 tsp sea salt

dash of ground red pepper

juice of half a lemon and half a lime

Combine all ingredients in glass container and microwave about 1 to 3 minutes (depending on your microwave), until the garlic is soft and liquid is bubbling hot. Use immediately.

Instructions:
Prepare the bite-size chicken pieces in large bowl. Pour 1/3 of the hot salad dressing
mix (see above) over the chicken.

In another large bowl, in which you have combined all the fresh and dried fruit, pour
another 1/3 of the dressing mix.

In a very large salad bowl (glass is nice if you've got it because it lets you see all the colorful ingredients) containing the rinsed and drained lettuce, pour the remaining 1/3 of the hot dressing and also squeeze the rest of your lemons and limes over the greens, to taste. Then add to the lettuce bowl the chicken and fruit and any vinegar and oil dressing
remaining in the bottom of their bowls and mix or toss together with the greens. Then
add the cheese and nuts, in that order, gently but thoroughly tossing/mixing after each
addition.

Serve immediately with Hint of Lime Tostitos, a fresh salsa that includes generous
amounts of fresh tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and lime juice and two avocados
coarsely chopped and passed in a separate bowl (because Donna doesn't like avocados
and because they look better when added separately.) Enjoy!

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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