Chicken salad recipes fit for company – or a romantic dining occasion

These days, a menu for guests or a candlelight dinner for two can present a challenge to the weekly food budget. Tuna sandwiches may be great in a lunch bag, but won't fill the bill when you're having a dinner party. And a burger and fries isn't what most people think of when a special individual is coming – you want to serve something a bit more elegant, right? Unfortunately, elegance at the dinner table usually translates to a high price at the check stand. So, what do you serve?

Chicken is the short answer here. Still one of the most economical of meats on offer, it's certainly a good place to start. You also probably don't want to spend hours preparing food, greeting your guest or guests all worn out by the time everyone sits down. Perhaps the perfect answer to this dinner – or lunch – situation is found in chicken salad recipes. From simple (yet elegant) fare to a meal worthy of a four-star restaurant, chicken salad recipes allow you to put together a stunning meal in no time, with plenty of energy and attention to devote to guests.

Chicken is a culinary chameleon, dressed up or down as you please, and is economical as well. Here we have some ideas for combinations for chicken salad recipes to suit almost every taste and occasion. These dishes aren't fussy nor do they require gourmet cooking skills. You don't even need to do any measuring, with the exception of seasonings. The beauty of these recipes lies in using the freshest ingredients, artistically arranged on the serving plate, using your imagination as your guide.

Despite the inherent spontaneity of chicken salad recipe creations, it does help to know which foods to group together in your salad, those which will enhance the chicken in exciting-to-the-palate ways.

Another built-in advantage of the chicken salad recipe is that much of the prep work can be done ahead of time, leaving you plenty of time to get your own appearance in line with your lovely entree!

Chicken breast meat is ideally suited to a chicken salad, as it can be cut in uniform sized pieces (julienned or diced) for a 'neat' appearance. However, there's no reason you can't use dark meat as well, if that's your preference. Allowing about 4 ounces of boned chicken per serving, grill, broil or bake the required amount the morning of your party.

Seasoning your meat adds extra character to the finished dish, but this is largely dependent on other ingredients you're using. Parsley is almost universal when it comes to a good match for most chicken recipe ingredients, as is a lemon pepper dried blend, or marinade. A teriyaki marinade is wonderful when paired with tropical fruits, such as pineapple or mangoes. Liquid Smoke(TM) and Tabasco(TM) sauce add zip and plenty of flavor to chicken. As with tofu, chicken tends to acquire the character of the sauce, seasonings and marinades you use when cooking. You can also leave the meat unseasoned, using grilling as the cooking method, which imparts its own flavor in the caramelized edges of the meat.

After cooking, refrigerate the meat until it's cool enough to cut, or break into bite-sized chunks. Remove the skin as you work, freezing it for later use in stocks or gravies.

If your preference in a chicken salad recipe leans towards the Chef's salad concept, all you need are a variety of green, leafy lettuces combined with a bounty of veggies – here, almost anything goes: tomatoes, cucumbers, celery slices, green onions, paper-thin slices of red onions, mushrooms, black or Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, sweet bell peppers, fire roasted red peppers, alfalfa sprouts, and water chestnuts all go well with chicken. Naturally, you probably couldn't fit all of these on a single plate, but you can certainly include generous amounts of the veggies you like best. More additions to consider include slices of hard-boiled eggs, freshly grated cheese and croutons. Just about all of the greens and veggies may be prepared ahead of time and stored in individual plastic zipper bags until you're ready to assemble. Chilling your salad plates is a nice touch which helps keep your salad crisp. This type of chicken salad recipe requires, at the most, 15 minutes to chop the veggies, with about the same amount of time for assembly, depending on the size of your party.

Another traditional interpretation of the chicken salad recipe is the combination of diced chicken, celery slices, walnut pieces, diced apples and diced red onion combined in a mayonnaise dressing, or a mayonnaise and sour cream mixture. Go light on the dressing, so that it doesn't overwhelm the taste buds! Mound the chicken salad mixture in the center of a bed of greens. Arranging walnut halves around the chicken salad mound, with thin rounds of red onion rings garnishing the greens, along with celery sticks filled with cream cheese at the side of the plate makes a pretty arrangement with tons of flavor, color and texture.

A layered approach to the chicken salad recipe is another winning combination. Use a clear glass salad bowl with straight sides in which to layer the ingredients. Not only does this make a lovely presentation, but also assures that each serving contains its fair share of the goodies! Begin with a layer of crisp chow mein noodles, followed by assorted greens, topped with a mixture of julienned sweet red peppers, kernel corn and a few teaspoons of fresh chopped cilantro. Your next layer consists of diced or julienned chicken meat, followed by paper-thin, raw red onion rings. Now, repeat the sequence until your salad bowl is full.

An alternative layered salad calls for replacing the red pepper and corn with fresh or canned chunks of pineapple, chunks of fresh orange and melon balls – cantaloupe goes very nicely in this chicken salad recipe.

So there you have four different chicken salads, each with a number of variations. For dressing, fire-roasted red pepper, poppy seed or honey sesame seed dressings are all tasty finishes. Easy to prepare, nutritious and packed with flavor and visual appeal, any of these chicken salad recipes will make you a favored cook! Bon Appetit!