Chicken Grits Soup and Chicken Salad

For this salad, I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I usually buy organic chicken breasts. First I make a stock with vegetables and a bit of organic chicken base, which just needs to boil for 5 to 6 minutes. Then I cook the chicken briefly in the stock, cover the pot, and allow the chicken to poach in the hot liquid off the heat for 20 minutes. This method produces tender, juicy meat. Once it is cool, the meat is shredded by hand, tossed with a mustardy dressing, and served at room temperature. Shorey and I have great fun with the presentation of this dish. We use radishes, romaine lettuce, tomato, hard-cooked eggs, and chives to decorate the salad and make it look like a chicken on the plate.

Kids love to make these decorations. You can also use olives, bell pepper strips, basil leaves, and other ingredients to create your own design. Make sure that all the decorative elements are good with the salad.

Then, for the soup, grits (or polenta, basically the same thing) are added to the stock and boiled for a couple of minutes to create a hearty, delicious dish that can be served on its own or with grated Parmesan or Gruyère on top. The soup can also be made using just the stock base and grits, without the chicken breasts.

Serves 2

• Stock
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons chicken base, preferably organic
• ½ cup peeled and diced (½-inch) carrot
• ½ cup cleaned and diced (½-inch) leek
• ½ cup diced (½-inch) onion
• ½ cup cleaned and diced (½-inch) mushrooms
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (5 to 6 ounces each)
• Dressing
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 1½ tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1½ teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Lettuce leaves, for serving (optional)
• Optional (for presentation)
• 1 hard-cooked egg, sliced with an egg slicer
• 1 or 2 large radishes
• Some small romaine lettuce leaves
• A few fresh chives
• soup
• ⅓ cup grits or polenta, preferably organic stone-ground
• Grated Parmesan or Gruyère, for serving (optional)

For the stock: Place all the stock ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil gently for about 6 minutes. (This can be done ahead.)

When ready to make the salad: Add the chicken breasts to the stock and bring to a boil (this will take about 4 minutes). Boil gently for about 45 seconds, then cover the pot and remove it from the heat. Let the chicken poach gently in the hot stock for 20 minutes.

Remove the breasts from the stock and, when they are cool enough to handle, tear into pieces following the grain of the meat. Reserve the stock for the soup.

For the dressing: Mix all the ingredients together.

For the salad: Toss the chicken well with the dressing. The salad can be served as is or spooned onto lettuce leaves. Or, for a more elegant presentation, use the optional ingredients to make a decorative “chicken”: A slice from the center of the hard-cooked egg will be the head of the chicken. Fashion a beak, comb, and feet from outside slices of radish. Arrange the chicken salad on a plate to create the body of the bird and use a small lettuce leaf to make the tail. Arrange a few chives on top to simulate more feathers.

For the soup: Bring the stock to a boil, add the grits or polenta, and bring back to a boil. Boil for about 3 minutes, until the grits are cooked. Serve with grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese or, if you prefer, as is.

To see how it’s done, go to www.surlatable.com/jacquespepin.