Bloomin' Chicken Salad a la Potpourri
The Potpourri was the last white-tablecloth restaurant operated by the D.H. Holmes department store, one of the two major players in the golden era of shopping on Canal Street. (The other was Maison Blanche, of course.) Holmes always had restaurants in its stores, but that era was near its end when they renovated and renamed the dining rooms on Canal Street and at Lakeside Mall. Potpourri was a fern restaurant, with all the atmosphere and the menu of that 1970s dining style. It did have a lot of regular customers, though, and they liked the Potpourri so much that they still seek recipes for its most famous dishes. The Bloomin' Chicken Salad was one of these. I get asked about it every year or so. This is, I believe, an authentic recipe from Holmes's kitchen, but I'm not positive. It tastes about like I remember--which is to say that the first thing you notice in eating it is a decidedly sweet flavor.
Two ingredients in the original recipe are offbeat. One is chicken base, an ingredient used in second-rate restaurants across America. It's available in (oddly) in gourmet supermarkets and some not-so-gourmet places, next to the canned stock and bouillon cubes. I don't like bases, so I have given instructions for making a bit of chicken stock. (You have to cook the chicken, anyway). The poppyseed dressing was, I'll bet, a bottled product the restaurant bought off the shelf. I have given a separate recipe for this sweet stuff. When is the last time you had poppyseed dressing?
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts
- 1 small onion, cut up into chunks
- Stems from a bunch of parsley (optional)
- Leafy top of a bunch of celery, chopped coarsely
- 1 tsp. black (or three-color) peppercorns
- 8 oz. (by weight) slivered almonds
- ~
- Poppyseed dressing:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp. Colman's dry mustard
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. granulated onion or onion powder
- 1 Tbs. poppyseeds
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 Tbs. cider vinegar
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tbs. chicken base (or stock--see instructions)
- 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
- 2 heads Boston, bibb, or butter lettuce
- Seasonal fresh fruits: strawberries, blueberries, melons, mango, pears, apricots, satsuma sections. . . whatever is available that sounds delicious
1. Put the chicken, onion, parsley stems, celery tops, and peppercorns into a saucepan with a quart of water. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 45 minutes.
2. Remove the chicken. Debone it and put the bones into the saucepan. Return to a low boil, this time uncovered.
3. Chop the chicken into one-inch dice and refrigerate.
4. Toast the almonds in a pan in a toasted oven or a broiler at 400 degrees. When you see the first sign of browning, remove the almonds from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Make the poppyseed dressing by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking or blending in a food processor or blender.
6. In a bowl, blend the mayonnaise with the chicken base, or with 3 Tbs. of the chicken stock (if still hot, whisk in a little at a time). Add the chopped chicken meat and the sliced celery. Toss until well coated. Refrigerate.
7. Tear the leaves of lettuce into large pieces. Toss with the poppyseed dressing (use your judgment as to the amount) and divide into serving plates. Top with the chicken-celery mixture, then with the fruits, then with the almonds. Serve immediately.
