Ed and I have been married long enough for us to have discussed a zillion topics from public school vs. private to what color to paint the living room to which is the best mouthwash.

We never run out of conversation. But I sure was surprised last week when we found ourselves talking about whether chicken salad tastes best when you make it with soup-cooked, poached chicken or leftover roasted/rotisserie chicken. 

How had we missed this important matter in all this time?

It seems as if he finally felt compelled to let me know that my way — like my mom’s, using the chicken from the pot of chicken soup I had cooked — was not as good as the way he remembered his mom’s way (made with leftover roasted/rotisserie chicken). He added that all these years he had been eating my softer, more tender chicken salad, and enjoying it, but missed that extra “chew” you get from the meat of a roasted bird.

What do you know about that?!

Well, in any event, we both remembered that despite the difference in the way the chicken was cooked, both mothers diced the meat, added some chopped celery, mixed it with mayo and called it a day. Whereas, I never make chicken salad that way and, in fact, rarely make it the same way twice.

So folks, whatever you prefer — poached or roasted, barbecued, rotisseried or whatever, the following salad makes for a tasty sandwich filler. Feel free to change the meat to turkey, the almonds to hazelnuts, the apple to pear, the dill to tarragon, if you get my drift ….

Chicken Salad with Apples and Almonds

• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 4-5 tablespoons mayonnaise
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the chicken, apple, almonds and dill in a bowl and toss to distribute the ingredients evenly. Add the mayonnaise, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, mix.

Makes 2 servings