Minnesota Table: Smoked Chicken Salad With Jicama
Last week, we featured a recipe for Minnesota BLTs from the beautifully illustrated cookbook The Minnesota Table: Savoring Local Food Throughout The Year by Shelley Holl and BJ Carpenter, chock-full of tips and how-tos on everything from freezing berries to storing and cooking wild rice–great techniques that will have you cooking up (and savoring) healthy, flavorful dishes for your family all-year round.
Here's another recipe, perfect for August, an easy, no-cook (but delicious!) chicken salad that will impress your summer party guests.
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Smoked Chicken Salad With Jicama
With nods to culture and convenience, Shelley came up with this tasty and healthy, no-cook salad for the hotter days of summer. Everything, including the mayo, should be available at your local co-op farmers' market, and beyond buying the ingredients, the only labor involved is a bit of peeling, chopping, mixing, and eating.
½ smoked chicken, about 3 lbs., skinned, boned and cut into ½-inch pieces
2/3 c. jicama, peeled and cut in matchstick-sized pieces
1 large tart, red unpeeled apple, quartered and cut into matchstick-sized pieces
4 large red radishes, thinly sliced
¼ c. commercial mayonnaise
¼ c. plain low-fat yogurt
1 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Lettuce leaves to serve
- Cut chicken into ½ inch bite-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add jicama, apple, radish to chicken.
- In a separate small bowl, mix mayonnaise, yogurt and tarragon. Add to chicken and other ingredients and toss to coat. Taste for salt and pepper, adjusting if needed. Remember: smoked chicken and mayonnaise are already seasoned and salted.
- Serve as individual salads, or family-style in a bowl lined with salad greens.
The Minnesota Table is available at bookstores. Recipe excerpted with permission from Voyageur Press.
