Dearborn Park Chicken Salad

There was a wonderful summer when my friend Phil had a boat in Monroe harbor and we sailed the beer can race each Wednesday. One of my fondest memories is working the wheel while we rounded the crib, keel over as far as I dared.  I was worried until I realized, it wasn’t my boat. One evening after the race some guests brought a salad with chicken in it.  I took one bite, looked up and with a great big smile said – Harold’s.

I worked next to a guy who brought a McDonald's Burger and fries every day and ate it at his desk.  Determined to communicate with him, I brought a Billy Goats double cheese with grilled onions and ate it at my desk.  It didn't make an impression.  Then I brought some take out Sushi, no effect.  Next I got a side of white from Harold’s.  The whole floor knew what I was eating.  He considerately ate in the lunch room ever after.

Harold’s is a chicken franchise in Chicago.  What he does is take a great big old chicken and fry it.  Each store has a different taste because each fryer has a different history.  When rents got low downtown, some Harold’s opened up there.   I walked into one just west of the loop that had white people working.  I saw something there I had never seen in Harold’s before or since, a big white block sitting in the fryer, they were melting lard.  The service was slow, as usual, and with decades of payback at stake, I gave them the look, and they hurried up!

If you don’t have a Harold’s, find some place that fries big old birds.  Discard the bones, skin, breading and bust up the chicken.   Use mesclun or arugula, anything with bite, it has to fight the chicken.  Scallions, cherry tomatoes, peppers, almond slivers, radishes, you get the idea. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar of course.

Don’t accompany it with white bread and Richard’s.  You can say it but don’t do it.  Instead, have a nice chewy sourdough and a Riesling.  If you must be authentic, push the cork in and drink out of the bottle. Don’t bother checking your cholesterol for a month, it’s too high and you’re going to die and that’s all there is to it.

Yuppie Bean Salad

We have the opportunity to explain the cosmos, plumb the depths of human consciousness, solve the world’s problems, what do we do?  Exchange recipes; this one started when I became dissatisfied with brown rice.   Unless I cook it with meat in a pilaf, no matter how long I boil it, it is crunchy.  I discovered that when I boiled it with beans it became soft.  There are any number of rice and beans dishes, hopping jack comes to mind,  but none that I am aware of that boil the rice and beans together.

Whatever proportion of rice and beans that you prefer.  Boil until the beans are soft enough for you.  Perhaps that is the secret; maybe we have more patience for beans, or maybe the beans beat the rice. If you use red or black beans, you will get a purple or gray glop and if you are American, you might use that in chili. I find navy, pinto, lentils or chickpeas preferable.  Chickpeas taste elegant boiled with brown rice.

If you are one of those obsessive people who determine the exact proportion of water to use so that you do not waste a drop without burning the pan then good on you, the rest of us will boil until the beans are soft then dump it into a colander.

If you are from Wisconsin you will melt cheese over it.  What can’t you put in this?  Cheese, okra, succotash, maybe succotash is OK, green beans, breadcrumbs, hard-boiled eggs or corn. Parsley works, carrots, tomatoes, in the winter if you have a favorite canned vegetable, fennel, almost anything mild.  Then of course add olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

This will keep; it’s a good bachelor dish.  Serve with almost any wine and bread.  Eat as much as you want, it’s good for you.  I've noticed that it seems to help muscle pain.