Time to picnic
At its most basic, chicken salad can be breast meat only, preferably cubed, and mixed with mayonnaise. But even the purist cook is tempted to dress that up with chunks of celery or tart apple, bits of toasted walnuts or cashews, a dash of lemon juice, or a jolt of mustard.
At Nashoba Brook Bakery in the South End (617-236-0777) and West Concord (978-318-1999), curried chicken salad has been more than just the standard from the beginning. Their salad is studded with red grapes, pecans, and cilantro, and served as a sandwich with greens or on its own. Co founder John Gates often eats it for lunch between slices of sourdough. The shops also serve a variety of the salad made with tarragon, dried fruits, and candied ginger. Customers seem to like the curried version best. The popular lunch item is on the menu daily in the city but in sandwich form only on Wednesdays and Sundays at the original location in West Concord.
You can tailor chicken salad to suit your own taste. Crank up the spices for the fire-eaters in your family or dial down the unusual add-ins for the picky eaters. If your kids are anything like Gates's brood, they won't go for the extras in this recipe, but anyone can appreciate quality ingredients. "The same salad," says the baker, "with grapes that weren't as firm or as juicy, or with pecans that were stale" wouldn't be something worth serving. That advice goes for home, too. -- EMILY SCHWAB 