High Desert Table

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Hatch Green Chile Picnic Chicken Salad

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When warm weather arrives, my family can’t wait to get outside. We take more walks, go adventuring around town and look for any and all excuses to light up the grill. This Picnic Chicken Salad is made for days like these. It’s easy to make ahead, easy to make into sandwiches, and versatile enough to bring along on a hike or stash in your picnic basket for tailgating at the opera.

Make it happen

This recipe brings back a lot of memories because it reminded me this week of a lobster salad I used to make way back when I was working as a chef de partie at Avenues in the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago under the helm of Chef Graham Elliot. The kitchen was small and only had room for four of us aside from Chef. Even though we were serving anywhere from three to 20+ course spontaneous tasting menus, somehow night after night we got it done with enough juice left in the tank to wake up and do it again the next day. I think having a handful of so-simple-how-can-it-taste-this-amazing kind of recipes up our sleeves was how we pulled it off with such a small team. That, and the phrase that became a kind of daily mantra “make it happen” which when said to each other was annoying and motivational in equal measure. And somehow at the end of the night, even when we were faced with a seemingly impossible prep list or a stack of tickets from the dining room, by some miracle we actually had made it happen. I would like to publicly apologize to my husband and kids who sometimes hear me accidentally say “make it happen” to them. What can I say? It’s a habit that has worked for me for a long time, so now as a mom maybe it can work its magic at home too, or so I can dream.

Creme Fraiche is the way

You’ll notice that I steer clear of mayo or even sour cream and use creme fraiche instead. Creme Fraiche is the French, fattier and creamier cousin to sour cream. Thinned with a little lemon we get a decadent, bright, and creamy dressing that doesn’t get weighed down with the oily mouthfeel found in mayo. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good garlic mayo on too many things to count, but here I wanted to keep it light and flavor-forward in every possible way.

The meat

You can make this salad as it is here with pulled roasted chicken, or you can use steamed or roasted chicken breasts, roasted or smoked salmon, shrimp, or cooked lobster meat. If you want to leave out meat altogether, just substitute roasted baby or new potatoes, and viola! One of my favorite potato salads of all time. 

Common misconceptions

There is a common misconception that when picnic salads go bad, it is because of the creamy dressing. This is false. A lot of times, a dressing will actually protect the salad a bit because they usually contain some preservatives like sugar or acid, but the bigger dangers are dirty hands or utensils when preparing it and all cut vegetables and fruits because they contain more surface area for bacteria to grow. When you head out into the field with any kind of prepared food, keep it on ice in a cooler or be sure to consume it within 2 hours, or 1 hour if it’s extra hot out. Happy trails!

Picnic chicken salad ingredients fresh from the market
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Hatch Green Chile Picnic Chicken Salad

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This Picnic Chicken Salad is made for warm-weather picnics or backyard barbeques. It’s easy to make ahead, easy to make into sandwiches, and versatile enough to bring along on a hike or stash in your picnic basket for tailgating.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 0 mins
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2 quarts
  • Category: Summer
  • Method: chop
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units
  • 2 fire-roasted hatch green chiles, peeled, seeded, and diced
  • 8 oz. creme fraiche
  • 1 Lemon, juiced and zested (around 2 T. Juice)
  • 1 large apple, finely diced
  • 1/2 c. finely diced red onion
  • 1/4 c. Minced chives
  • 1 c. Celery and leaves
  • 4 c. pulled roasted Chicken,
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a blender, blend the green chiles, creme fraiche, lemon juice, and zest until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and add the apple, red onion, chives, celery leaves, and roasted chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Picninc chicken salad ingredients chopped, prepped, and ready to go

Spring Chicken Posole Verde

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When I spooned up a bowl of this authentic chicken pozole for my husband last week, the first thing he said was “this tastes like New Mexico”. I cannot think of a better compliment than this. This is a simple soup that takes some time to make, but I promise it’s worth it. There are many kinds of posole, so to celebrate the full arrival of Spring, I decided to make one loaded with greens. 

When I arrived home after picking up a bag of Posole at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, I noticed a little piece of paper inside the ziplock bag with a recipe for “Raul’s Posole”. The recipe was for a pork and red chile version where you put pork and posole into a pot with water, and let it cook for a couple of hours before adding red chile, salt, pepper, garlic, and tomatoes before garnishing with chopped onions and oregano. The next time I make a pot of posole I will definitely try Raul’s recipe. The generosity of recipe sharing is how I’m learning to cook here and each time is a gift. 

When it comes to posole, I’ve probably learned the most while hanging out in the kitchen with Chefs Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater. They taught me that while there are many ways of cooking posole, soaking the corn overnight in the fridge is a great way to jump-start the process for cooking the next day. And their favorite way of cooking posole is overnight in a crock pot covered with water. The next day, you will have fluffy and tender posole for however, you plan on using it. So feel free to experiment with cooking posole either of these ways. And as always, you can always shorten the cooking time for this recipe with cans of hominy if you find that helpful.

You’ll notice that in this recipe I give estimates for the number of garlic and tomatillos. The main reason for this is that tomatillos and garlic cloves come in a variety of sizes. If you’re using garlic cloves that are close to the center of a head of garlic, the cloves will be smaller. So just use the number that feels good to you.

When I make this recipe, I like to make the broth, pick the chicken meat and soak the posole the day before. This way, when I actually make the soup the next day, everything feels fast and easy. If you’re crunched for time you can buy chicken broth at the store and/or simmer chicken breasts or thighs in the broth until they are cooked through before pulling the meat into bite-sized pieces. And while you’re at it, if you don’t care about the broth being a bright green, you can skip the blending and simply add minced parsley and cilantro to the warm soup right before serving. 

So while you can make a pot of posole about a hundred different ways, make it work for you. I’d be willing to bet it will still taste like New Mexico in the best of ways.

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Spring Chicken Posole Verde

High Desert Table - Easy Chicken Pozole - plated with jalapenos
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When I spooned up a bowl of this Spring Posole for my husband last week, the first thing he said was “this tastes like New Mexico”. I cannot think of a better compliment than this.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: around 12 servings
  • Category: Soup
  • Method: Slow Cook
  • Cuisine: New Mexico Inspired

Ingredients

Units

for the hominy (posole):

  • 1 1/2 c. dried hominy (posole) or 2 cans of cooked hominy, rinsed and drained

for the chicken & broth:

  • 1 rotisserie chicken
  • 12 c. cold water
  • 2 t. Salt

for the soup:

  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3–5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 5–7 tomatillos, trimmed and diced
  • 2 c. (or 1, 16 oz. tub) mild green chile, diced
  • 2 fire roasted poblano chiles, peeled, seeded, diced
  • 1 small bunch of spring onions, green parts sliced and white parts sliced and reserved
  • 1 c. parsley leaves and stems, sliced
  • 1 c. cilantro leaves and stems, sliced
  • salt and pepper to taste

for garnish:

 

  • Jalapeno slices, reserved green onions and/or avocado

 

Instructions

If you are using canned posole (hominy) skip this step: The day before you cook your dried posole, soak them in the fridge, covered with water by at least three inches. The next day, pour the water and posole into a large pot and add more water to cover. Cook them over medium-high heat until they are tender, around two hours, and drain.

HDT - Spring Posole - hominy prepped

To make the chicken broth

Break the chicken into pieces and place in a large pot. Add the water, salt and bring to a boil. If you are preparing the vegetables for the soup at this time, throw in the ends, skins, and trimmings, but if you’re making this ahead of time, don’t worry about it. Lower the heat to a simmer for around an hour. Pull out the chicken pieces with tongs and strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve the broth and pull the chicken meat from the bones once it’s cool enough to handle and reserve.

To make the soup

Place the chicken broth in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Bring a separate, large, heavy-bottomed pot to medium heat. Add the oil and after a minute, add the onions. Let them cook until they are just starting to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook another minute more. Add the tomatillos, mild green chile, fire-roasted poblanos, white parts of the spring onions, the cooked posole, and reserved chicken.

Place the parsley and cilantro in a blender, along with 6 cups of the hot chicken broth. Carefully blend until the broth is a bright green. Pour this and the remaining chicken broth into the pot with the posole mixture. Bring this to a simmer, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with jalapeno, the green parts of spring onions and/or avocado. Enjoy!