Chicken Salad with Olive Oil and Fresh Herbs

This is a highly versatile salad in terms of the meat you use: Make it with breast or thigh meat or a mixture; left over chicken is perfectly acceptable (and indeed may give the salad deeper flavor). So you need to cook up a batch only if you don’t have enough handy. (For this recipe, start with about 11/2 pounds raw, bone-in meat.) Or forget the chicken and use salmon, tuna, or shrimp instead. Serve this solo, on top of greens, on cooked pasta or grains, or use it in sandwiches.

1 pound shredded or cubed roasted, grilled, or poached chicken meat

3 tablespoons chopped shallot or red onion

1/4 cup chopped pitted black olives

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to taste

1/2 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs, like chives, parsley, chervil, dill, and/or basil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 to 6 cups torn assorted greens (optional)

• Put the chicken, shallot, olives, and zest in a bowl and mix. (At this point, you may refrigerate the salad, covered, for a day; take out of the fridge 15 minutes or so before proceeding to take the chill off ).
• Drizzle on the lemon juice and olive oil and sprinkle on the herbs and salt and pepper; mix again. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Use as is or arrange the greens on the plate(s) and top with the chicken salad.

MAKES: 4 to 6 servings

TIME: 45 minutes; 20 minutes with cooked chicken