Saturday Sundae - Fruity Chicken

Hi to my lovely peeps out there.

Do you enjoy al fresco dining in summer?

Taking out simple meals to enjoy in the garden is a truly wonderful experience, IMHO.

Here's my suggestion for today's lunch or early evening meal.

Chicken and Fruit Sundae

Serving suggestion:  I made a potato salad for The Photographer to make his meal more substantial.

Here's what you do.

Prepare a tangy-fresh salsa (suggested ingredients below).

Prepare a chicken mix, as below.

Layer salsa and chicken mix alternately in a sundae glass and eat with a sundae spoon.

It's that simple!

We are finding that eating salads in this way makes them so much more appetizing and satisfying.  It make the meal more of an occasion and, well, elegant.  And elegance isn't just kept for clothes, eh ladies?!

Suggested Ingredients

Salsa: finely chopped a red onion, tomato, and some exotic fruit* such as pineapple or mango,  then mix with a miniscule drizzle of olive oil, lime juice and seasoning, and some finely chopped fresh coriander and chili.

The salsa can be prepared an household two in advance and kept covered in the fridge; this enhances the flavour.

Chicken mix: chopped cooked chicken breast**, mayonnaise (about 1 tbspn), a little more of the chopped fruit, shredded Little Gem, a little chopped coriander, seasoning.

Summer's too precious to cook, peel and chop!

* Because I'm cooking for just we two, I buy a little tub of ready-peeled and chopped fruit, then chop it a bit more finely.  I then keep the fruit remaining to have with yoghurt on another day.

**I use a ready-roasted chicken from the supermarket (Waitrose) delicatessen.  The summer is too short and precious to stay indoors roasting.   Besides, it's economical - you save pennies by not having the oven going for an hour+ and you keep the kitchen cool too.

What to do with the rest off the chicken

My ready-roasted chicken cost £3.99.  From it I made two very generous sundaes (plus there was a little of the mix let over for a sarnie on another day).  I then used the rest of the chicken in a huge pie (three meals for two, so some went in the freezer).  I boiled the carcass and used some stock for gravy to serve with the our our pie meal and the rest to make a chicken and veg soup.

So that's five meals for the two of us and a sandwich - economical.

Sundae Glasses

Serve your sundaes in pretty glasses.  I use these which I frosted and etched many years ago during a craft weekend.

So my sweets, my work here is done for today.  

I wish you a very happy weekend and happy dining, so fresco if you're in the northern hemisphere and cosily indoors if you're south of the equator.

A la perchoine,

Mary x.