By Late April and the semester is ending. My Language and Literacy class had a final project: a curriculum unit for teaching language development to toddlers with varying home language environments. I built mine around food vocabulary and cooking language, because in my experience toddlers respond to food words immediately, stir and pour and hot and cold and smell and taste, and food is a universal access point to language regardless of home background.
Dr. Simmons, my professor this semester, gave me a 98 on the project and wrote: this demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how environment shapes language acquisition. You should consider the research track. I do not know exactly what the research track means. I know it means more school than I have planned for. I put the comment on the refrigerator next to the scholarship email and Elijah drawing.
Made chicken salad this week, the kind you eat on bread, because it is warm enough now that light lunches feel right. Poached chicken thighs, chopped, with celery, red onion, a little Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, fresh tarragon from the herb pot on the windowsill, which is expanding aggressively. I ate it for lunch three days on toasted bread and thought: this is something I can make for the rest of my life. A reliable, good thing. There are dozens of those now in my repertoire. I am building a repertoire.
Biscuit found the tarragon pot this week. She sniffed it, considered it, and walked away. This is the highest possible endorsement from Biscuit.
After turning in a project about teaching toddlers language through food—and getting the kind of feedback that ends up on the refrigerator—it felt right to lean into something simple and good. This chicken salad is the recipe I kept coming back to all week, the one that made me think about what it means to have a repertoire of reliable things. Here’s how I make it.
Tarragon Chicken Salad
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 slices bread, toasted, for serving
Instructions
- Poach the chicken. Place chicken thighs in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water by about one inch. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat to low and cook for 15–20 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Do not boil—a gentle simmer keeps the meat tender.
- Cool and chop. Remove chicken from the water and let it rest on a cutting board until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Chop into small, bite-sized pieces.
- Mix the dressing. In a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until smooth.
- Combine. Add the chopped chicken, celery, red onion, and fresh tarragon to the bowl. Fold everything together until evenly coated. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve. Spoon onto toasted bread for sandwiches, or serve over greens. The salad keeps well in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 620mg