Tangy Chicken Salad

For 99% of my life, I have really and truly loathed chicken salad.  My dislike was so great that I actually had to leave the room if somebody was eating it.  So when my friend Rachel made chicken salad for dinner one night, I was slightly horrified.  Fortunately, my sense of politeness forced me to eat some and, boy, was it good!

The problem with most chicken salad recipes, I think, is that they rely on huge globs of mayonnaise to provide taste.  This recipe circumvents that problem by adding giardiniera for taste and color.  Now I am a chicken salad convert.  I made a few slight changes to the recipe for a little added zing.

You'll need:
1 roasted chicken (I got mine at the local Treasure Island for $4.99)
1 16-oz. bottle of giardiniera (mild or hot)
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. white vinegar
Freshly grated black pepper, to taste

The first thing you'll need to do is disassemble the roasted chicken.  Now, I almost never cook with meat, so this was a new experience for me.  I attempted to remove the skin with a knife, but wound up using my fingers to de-skin and then to strip the meat from the chicken carcass.  I'm sure there are more elegant ways to do this, but using your hands is effective, efficient, and a chance to become intimately acquainted with the structure of a chicken (this could be a plus or minus).

Dispose of the skin and carcass, but be sure to save a little bit if you have a hungry pet:

Yes, I have to hold the chicken for her.  She is very spoiled.

Chop the chicken up coarsely and place in a medium-sized bowl.  Then chop up the giardiniera, but reserve the liquid.  Add the chopped giardiniera and the liquid to the chicken.  Add the mayo, white vinegar, and black pepper.  Mix thoroughly.  You probably won't need to add salt, as the giardiniera liquid is plenty salty.

Then it's ready to eat!  Or if you prefer your chicken salad really cold like me, cover it and put it back in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  Serve with some crusty bread.

I'm going to guess this will make 4 or 5 servings.  We shall see.

In other news, I'm finally all caught up on LOST.  I think I'm a little bit in love with Michael Emerson, particularly the way he pronounces words that start with "wh."  Yeah.