Culinary SOS: Chicken salad from the Curious Palate

Dear SOS: A relatively new cafe in Mar Vista, the Curious Palate, makes a wonderful chicken salad with almonds, dried cranberries, scallions and Rocky Jr. chicken. It is the best chicken salad I have ever eaten. Is it possible to obtain the recipe?

Courtney Lockwood

Santa Monica

Dear Courtney: The Curious Palate was happy to share its recipe for chicken salad, which we’ve adapted below. Enjoy!

The Curious Palate’s chicken salad

Total time: 45 minutes, plus roasting and cooling time for the chicken

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: Adapted from the Curious Palate in Mar Vista. The restaurant uses smaller chickens (Rocky Jr. brand); we tested with a larger roasting chicken and assembled the salad with canned roasted tomatoes.

Roast chicken

1 (5- to 5½-pound) roasting chicken

Salt

1/2 apple

1/2 lemon

A few sprigs thyme

1 garlic clove

2 bay leaves

5 black peppercorns

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt, seasoning the inside and outside. Stuff the chicken with the apple, lemon, thyme, garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorns.

3. Truss the chicken and place it on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast the chicken until a thermometer inserted reaches 170 degrees, 1 to 1½ hours. Remove and set aside until cool enough to handle.

4. Peel the skin from the chicken and shred the meat. Cover and refrigerate until needed. The chicken can be made up to 2 days ahead.

Aioli

1 egg yolk

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup canola oil

In a food processor or blender, combine the yolk, garlic, black pepper, salt and lemon juice. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil to form the aioli. This makes about 1 cup aioli, more than is needed for the remainder of the recipe; the aioli will keep, covered and refrigerated, up to 3 days.

Pesto

1/2 cup chopped arugula

1/2 cup chopped basil

1/4 cup toasted almonds

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine the arugula, basil, almonds and lemon juice. Pulse to purée the ingredients. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil to form the pesto. This makes about one-half cup pesto, more than is needed for the remainder of the recipe; the pesto will keep for up to 2 days, covered and refrigerated.

Chicken salad assembly

Shredded roast chicken meat

1/2 cup aioli, more if desired

1/4 cup pesto, more if desired

1/4 cup chopped roasted tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped green onion

Salt and pepper, if desired

2 tablespoons sliced, roasted almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

In a large bowl, toss the chicken meat with the aioli and pesto to coat. Stir in the tomatoes and green onion. Taste and adjust the aioli and pesto, and season to taste. Garnish the salad with the roasted almonds and cranberries before serving. This makes about 1½ quarts salad, which will keep for up to 2 days, covered and refrigerated.

Each of 8 servings: 307 calories; 37 grams protein; 5 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 15 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 118 mg cholesterol; 3 grams sugar; 508 mg sodium.