Chicken Salad

Well, with the remains of our Thanksgiving Chicken (the white meat at least, the dark was long gone, thanks to two hungry people who love those parts) I made what I think of as a classic chicken salad. We've had it two nights in a row, once on pumpernickel swirl toast and last night on soft buns, which we both preferred. It gave it a more picknicky feel, somehow. Anyhow:

• Jeez, I don't know how much chicken. Basically the meat from the breast of a roasted 5 lb chicken, more or less. Dice fairly finely.
• 2-2 1/2 stalks of celery, also diced finely
• 1 large onion, diced finely
• 1 cup ( or more, totally up to you) of mayo. I used Hellman's, having had a complete Mayonnaise Fail trying to make home-made.
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 4-5 pickled Gherkins, finely minced
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-2 teaspoons Chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried dill (fresh would be better, but gimme a break, it's December)
• Squeeze of juice from half a lemon
  
• Ground pepper

And that's about it. Combine it all in a big bowl, and put in the fridge, covered. It will be nice immediately, better later that day, and much better the next evening.

Tomato Relish

Ok, that's not really accurate, but it's as close as I can come to describing it. We had a pint container of cherry tomatoes (one of those clear plastic vented deals) that we bought, like, weeks ago. I noticed it on the counter again, and discovered that they were all perfectly good! So, I washed them, and threw them in the food processor along with various ingredients and left it in the fridge overnight. We ate it last night with yellow corn chips, and it turned out darn well if I say so myself.

• 1 pint small cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 tbsp freshly shredded Parmesan cheese, maybe more
  
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic (I also used some Sherry vinegar)
• Some pepper
• Squeeze of half a lemon
  

Buzz it all in your mini food processor, and let sit overnight. This might also be good on little toasts, bruschetta style. Thoughts for next time -- chopped Kalamata olives? A couple of anchovies? I'll definitely be trying this again.