Chicken Salad
Makes 8 servings.
Pastry Boats
- 0.66 cup water
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
- 0.66 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
In a 2-quart pan, combine the water, butter, and salt. Quickly bring to a boil, stirring to melt butter. Add flour all at once, remove pan from heat, and beat ingredients with a wire whip until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is smooth and glossy.
Spoon into 4 greased 6-inch metal bowls. Spread evenly inside bowls.
Bake crust in a 400 F oven for 40 minutes or until puffed and brown. Turn off oven. Prick with a wooden pick in 4 places and leave in closed oven for about 10 minutes to dry, then remove bowls from oven and cool completely. Remove crust from bowls.
If you make the pastly boat a day ahead, cover loosely with foil and store at room temperature. For longer storage, wrap completely in foil and freeze. Thaw completely, then recrisp pastry uncovered in a 400 F oven for 10 minutes. Recrisp even if stored at room temperature. Cool, then add the salad of your choice and garnish.
Salad Filling
- 3 cups skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cooked and chopped
- 8 ounces (1 can) sliced water chestnuts, drained
- 0.5 cup green onion, thinly sliced
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 lime
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 0.5 teaspoon ground ginger
- 0.25 pound edible pod-peas
- 0.25 cup of fresh coriander or parsley
Combine cooked chicken (in bite-size pieces), water chestnuts (drained and sliced), thinly sliced green onion, and 2 hard boiled eggs (coarsely chopped). In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, lime juice, sugar, curry powder, and ground ginger. Pour dressing over chicken mixture and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill up to 24 hours.
Dinner Is Served
Remove tips and strings from edible-pod peas. Drop into a pan of rapidly boiling water and boil for 1.5 minutes. Drain, plunge into cold water, and drain again. Cover and chill if cooked ahead.
To serve, arrange pod peas in bottom and up the sides of the pastry boats. Pile chicken salad on top and garnish with fresh coriander (cilantro) or parsley.
Adapted from ‘Supper Salad Arrives in a Pastry Boat’ from a magazine I don’t remember and Google couldn’t find.