6.08.2009

black bean chicken salad- our style

jay and i truly miss calypso cafe back home in franklin/nashville. one of our favorite menu items is the black bean chicken salad. they have a barbecue sauce dressing that cannot be duplicated, but we have come up with our own sauce that comes close enough for our liking. you can make your own variation, and as we looked around the table last night, all of the salads looked a little different. so here are the ingredients, or your own variation, that you will need:

if you are like me, you like dinner to be quick and easy. i use a rotisserie chicken (1 chicken for every 4 people) from the grocery store and just pull the chicken off the bones and then the chicken is ready. it is sometimes even more cost effective to do it this way, too, unless you have some leftover grilled chicken. bush's makes some great seasoned black beans that are perfect after warmed on the stove. if black beans aren't your style, grab some pintos. if you don't like beans, use rice. we use tostitos crispy rounds tortilla chips, but your favorite will do, or whatever happens to be in your pantry. i bought some romaine leaf lettuce today, b/c i realized yesterday i get more lettuce than i do from the bagged variety and it's cheaper. but, if you don't have time, just grab a bag. i can't say i've never done that before. some grocery stores even have tomatoes pre-diced in the produce department. if you don't feel like doing your own, grab those! however, when it's summer and the produce is fresh, i like to dice my own tomatoes. true to calypso form, they use red onion diced on their salads. it's not our favorite, so we omit. if you like black olives, you could add that to the mix, too. top with shredded cheese, of course. we then make our own sauce out of taco sauce and jerk sauce. (mixed to your own liking.) and then, last but not least, top with a dollop of sour cream. (our friend, steven, even adds ranch to his. most of us also add salsa too. be creative!)


not sure what those ingredients were again?





rotisserie chicken, black beans, tortilla chips

lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, and jerk sauce
here's my favorite layering order:
lettuce
tortilla chips
black beans
chicken
tomato
cheese
sauce
salsa
sour cream
i don't have a picture of the finished product because of two things: 1. most of the camera batteries were dead and being charged. 2. i forgot. but my salad was beautiful and tasty. let me know if you make your own and your own variations. enjoy!

5 comments:

anita said...

Sounds really good! I, of course, would sub out the black beans for something else. :~)

Mary Michael Conkin said...

Sounds yummy! We are going to have to try it... Hope you guys are doing good. Miss you!

Becca said...

Mmmm....that is one of our favorites, too! We're gonna be in Berry Hill for dentist appointments (ew), but we may have to pick up some dinner on the way home! I bet they'd sell some of their barbecue sauces in bulk and you could take them back home!

Mandy said...

Delicious! I miss you for our Calypso dates :)

Unknown said...

This made me hungry! x