A delicious dose of comfort food

Do you ever read a recipe and just know it’s going to be delicious?

That’s how I felt scanning the ingredients and method for this chicken and potato salad from Tyler Kord in Food52 Dynamite Chicken: 60 Never-boring Recipes for Your Favorite Bird (Ten Speed Press, 2019).

I’m a Food52 fan, so I was pretty sure that the cookbook from the popular food and lifestyle website would deliver more than a few recipes that would please my palate. (I’ve also got sticky notes on the Spicy Chocolate Milk-simmered Chicken and the Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie.)

Finding creative ways to prepare chicken could be a full-time job. People love chicken recipes because the mild, lean meat cooks quickly, isn’t too pricey and because it works well with so many ingredients.

Still, coming up with flavour twists is the key to preventing boredom at the table.

I dig a seared chicken thigh with a simple sauce as much as the next person, but I also can get tired of even recipes I love.

What makes this dish a standout? The homemade vinaigrette that coats the chicken and potato is made with tart balsamic vinegar and creamy tahini. When whisked together with garlic, they emulsify beautifully into an earthy sauce.

Rather than spoon the vinaigrette on top, as the recipe directed, we tossed it with the cooked potatoes and browned chicken pieces. Then, we spooned the warm mixture over the chilled lettuce leaves.

Some of us ate the salad with a fork; others used the leaves to wrap up the salad and ate it like a taco.

We loved the varying textures and temperatures as well: crunchy bacon, crisp scallions, cool lettuce, those soft, creamy potatoes and that viscous flavourful sauce. It was gone in minutes.

The recipe calls for chicken breast, but I plan to make it with thigh meat next time around. I have a feeling I’m going to love it even more.