~ Waldorf Chicken Salad on Cinnamon-Raisin Toast~

This is going to be one of my short and sweet posts.  It is blogworthy because it combines two of life's simple pleasures into one delightful sandwich:  Waldorf salad and cinnamon-raisin toast. It's not a combo that automatically pops into the foodie mind, but, if you think about it for a moment, you just know this paring is perfect.  Since I have it on good authority that a few of you made my recipe for ~ Bread Machine Basics and Cinnamon-Raisin Bread ~ this weekend, I thought you might be interested in an idea for a unique "lunchy brunchy" way to enjoy your bread!  (For the bread recipe itself, simply click on the Related Article link below.)

Ok.  You thought this through.  Now admit it:

Waldorf Chicken Salad on Cinnamon-Raisin Toast = A Great Sandwich!

A bit about the Waldorf salad:  The Waldorf salad is an American classic.  It was first created in the late 1800's (sometime between 1893 and 1896) at the Waldorf Hotel in NYC (later to become the legendary Waldorf-Astoria when the Waldorf merged with the adjacent Astoria Hotel, which opened in 1897).  All sources credit Oscar Tschirky, the maitre d'hotel  of the Waldorf for creating this recipe, along with several other of their signature dishes.  To this day, it remains their most requested menu item.  The original Waldorf salad contained only apples, celery and hand-whisked freshly-made mayonnaise.  It was served as an appetizer on a bed of lettuce. Walnuts were added afterward, and, are now considered part of the traditional recipe, with grapes or raisins being a common addition.

Because of its versatility, nowadays, Waldorf salad is a style of salad. 

As long as it contains apples, celery and mayo, anything compatible with them can be added and become "a la Waldorf".  Today, I'm adding crisply-fried bits of bacon in place of walnuts for crunch, chicken, because I roasted two on Thursday and have meat leftover, and, a bit of onion because I like it in Waldorf salad that has chicken added to it. I'm not adding grapes or raisins, because there's raisins in my bread (but if I were serving this on a bed of lettuce, I'd add one or the other).

For the salad:

2  cups medium-large diced/cubed chicken (1/2"), roasted or poached, no deli-meat please (turkey may be substituted)

(Note:  From 1 large, roasted chicken-breast half I got just under 2 cups today.)  

1-1 1/2  cups diced apple, red- or green-skinned, peeled or unpeeled 

1/2-3/4  cup diced celery 

1/4-1/2  cup diced yellow or red onion 

1/4  cup finely-diced, crisply-fried, well-drained bacon

1/2-3/4  cup mayonnaise + additional mayo, if necessary, just enough to coat the ingredients

1/2  teaspoon celery seed

1/2  teaspoon coarsely-ground black pepper

1/4-1/2  teaspoon sea salt, to taste

For the sandwiches:

8  slices cinnamon-raisin bread, toasted

1/2-3/4 cup chiffonade of romaine lettuce leaves

Note:  "Chiffonade"  is a fancy French term that means "made of rags".  Culinarily, it refers to strips or shreds of very thinly-sliced vegetables, most commonly lettuces and leafy herbs.

~ Step 1.  Prep and place all ingredients in a large bowl, as you work.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the 1/2 cup mayonnaise and the spices, until ingredients are coated.

Note:  Adding additional mayo may be necessary, depending upon how much of each ingredient you used.  

Transfer to a 1-quart food storage container, cover and refrigerate for 1 -2 hours.

~ Step 2.  Toast the bread.  I like to cool it almost to room temperature prior to proceeding. Chiffonade the romaine. Place about 2 tablespoons of romaine on the top of four slices of the bread.  Portion Waldorf chicken salad over the top of the lettuce.   Top each sandwich with the remaining four slices of bread, slice and enjoy:

A nice girl like me wouldn't kid about a sandwich like this.

It's 'Wichcraft!

Waldorf Chicken Salad on Cinnamon-Raisin Toast:  If you add the maximum quantity of all of the ingredients, recipe yields 4 cups chicken salad, and 4 hearty man-sized sandwiches, 8 half-sized ladylike sandwiches.

Special Equipment List:  cutting board; chef's knife; large rubber spatula; 1-quart food storage container w/lid

Cook's Note:  For another one of my bread machine bread recipes, ~ Bread Machine Basics & My Brioche Recipe ~, a sweetened yeast bread enriched with milk, butter and eggs, can be found in Categories 2, 15, 18 & 20.  Waldorf salad would be great on it too!

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2014)

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