Apricot Herb Chicken Salad

Normally when one thinks of fruit and meat pairings, ham and pineapple is no doubt the first pairing to come to mind. A close second is the pairing of pork and apples. But, have you ever tried Chicken and Apricot? Trust me this pairing is a complete and total mouthgasm. It is kicked up a bit also with the addition of sweet basil and champagne.

Ingredients

One third of a cup of Mayonaisse

One half of a cup of Skyr or Greek Yogurt, plain

One clove garlic

one half teaspoon of Paprika

Five teaspoons of Champagne

Three cups of diced cooked chicken

A quarter cup slivered almonds, toasted

A half cup onion

A half cup Celery

A third of a cup of dried apricots

A third cup of Fresh Sweet Basil leaves, torn

Coarse Salt, Pepper to taste

Directions

If using whole garlic, mince it quite finely. If using store bought minced garlic, place it in a large bowl and set aside while moving on to the next step.

Mince your onion finely and add to the minced garlic. Mix well to allow the flavours to blend.

Mince the celery finely and add to the bowl. Mix well and set aside for five minutes to allow the flavours to blend.

Add the Mayonaisse, Skyr or greek yoghurt, Garlic, Paprika and Champagne. Mix well

Stir in the Chicken, Almonds, Onion, Celery, Apricots

Tear your basil leaves quite coarsely and add. Mix well and season to taste with Salt and Pepper.

Notes

If you do not have champagne on hand, or if you do not drink alcohol, you can switch out the champagne for plain white vinegar. I would stay away from apple cider vinegar as the flavour might be overwhelming and clash with the apricot. The same goes for balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar.

Balsamic vinegar has a unique and overwhelming taste in my opinion. And it is also not gluten free so, I have not had any in years but from my recollection, I was not a fan of the taste at all.

You can eat this as is, but, I like it on toasted gluten-free bread as an open faced sandwich. But to be honest I have been known to eat this on its own with a spoon.

I prefer whole egg mayonnaise myself, but some people in my life are allergic to eggs so when making this for other people, I ask them if they have any food allergies and try to adapt the recipe accordingly.

I would go with a plain yoghurt for this recipe unless you can find an apricot flavoured one. But even then, I would definitely stay away from yoghurts that are overly sweet.

This recipe calls for cooked chicken. If you hand leftovers you can use that. If you do decide to cook a chicken for this recipe make sure to let it cool well before starting.

If you have nut allergies or are making this for someone with nut allergies (my friend with the egg allergy is also deathly allergic to nuts) you can opt to not use this ingredient at all. However, this does change the final texture as the nuts have a crunch to them.

I find chopping the garlic first allows the taste to develop as well as smooth out. If you prepare it last, the taste can be pretty over powering. This goes for the onion as well which is why I prepare these two ingredients first and let them sit after preparing. You do not want the garlic and onions be the main attraction. They are the highlight in this recipe.