Mustard Chicken Salad

Image courtesy of foodnetwork.com It's really so much better looking than this photo! I should have taken a pic of mine...

I just served this at a baby shower. It was a great make ahead recipe that was surprisingly good. I would usually steer clear from a "broccoli" salad for some reason - tarragon too for that matter - but the blanched broccoli, cut into really small florets was pleasant. And the tarragon was nice too.

I couldn't find tarragon vinegar in time, but the store I was at had a tarragon dijon mustard so I just used white wine vinegar and the tarragon mustard instead of just plain dijon.

Also, since I was scared of tarragon I didn't put in the full 2 TBS fresh tarragon. It seemed to be seasoned well enough. And it turns out I guess I do like tarragon.

Oh also, with roasting the chicken and removing the skin and bone for the salad, I can't help but add the drippings from the pan to the dressing. All that delicious flavor, otherwise known as mostly fat, so you have to make your own choice about that. But it was very tasty.

Mustard Chicken Salad from Ina Garten's latest cookbook that I can't think of the name of...

Ingredients

* 2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
* Good olive oil
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 cups broccoli florets
* 1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
* 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
* 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
* 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
* 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice the chicken in large bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, add the broccoli florets to a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook for 1 minute, until crisp tender, drain, and place into a bowl of ice water until cool. This will stop the cooking and set the bright green color.

For the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustards, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add enough sauce to the warm chicken to moisten well. Add the tarragon, broccoli, and tomatoes and mix gently to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.