rainforest recipes: CEiMB: Waldorf Chicken Wraps

This weeks Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by Jessica at Johnstone's Vin Blanc. I realized as I read through the recipe that although I have heard often of Waldorf Salads, I have never actually made or eaten one! I'm not sure how that came to be ... I suppose it is not the kind of meal that I would order in a restaurant, and I seldom make meat based salads at home ... so it was a great opportunity to try something new.

Waldorf Chicken Wraps
2006, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Serves: 5 servings

Preface:

I used my own home made yogurt, which didn't need much draining.

I can't buy Dijon mustard here, so I substituted regular mustard.

I used dried thyme instead of fresh.

I forgot to order grapes to be brought into my local tienda when I ordered the wraps, so I substituted raisins at the last minute.

Walnuts are another food item that is difficult to find here, and outrageously expensive when you do find it .. so I substituted toasted peanuts.

Romaine lettuce is sometimes available in the market, but it wasn't this week. Besides, I have that tender small-leafed spinach growing in my garden, and some fresh basil left in the refrigerator to use ... so I chopped them and mixed them together.

I tried to get larger wraps, to no avail. I'm not a big fan of store-bought breads, but have never learned to make my own wraps, so I seldom eat them.

Ingredients:

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt or 3/4 cups nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon minced thyme
1 pound cooked, skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup seedless grapes, sliced in 1/2
1/4 cup toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, cored and diced (about 3/4 cup)
Freshly ground black pepper
5 large leaves Romaine lettuce, rinsed and patted dry
5 whole-wheat wraps, about 8 inches in diameter

Instructions:

If using regular yogurt place the yogurt in a strainer lined with a paper towel. Put the strainer over a bowl and place in the refrigerator to drain and thicken for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the thickened or Greek-style yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, salt and thyme until smooth. Fold in chicken, grapes, walnuts and apples. Season with pepper.

Place 1 lettuce leaf on a wrap.

Spoon about 3/4 cup of the chicken filling onto wrap ...

and roll wrap around filling.

Verdict:

The flavor of the salad itself was excellent, although it was different than the original recipe, mostly because of the basil, which I thought was an excellent addition. I served it with avocado slices on the side ... not only is avocado great with sandwiches of any type, but we are smack in the middle of avocado season, and I am taking full advantage of its delicious inexpensive availability

One of the things I have grown to love about Ellie's recipes is the layering of the flavors and textures ... it seems that new exciting bursts of taste explode in my mouth at each bite. The peanuts for walnuts substitution worked perfectly ... the crunchy flavor of peanuts leaping in between the sweet apple and peppery chicken added an ideal contrast. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the grapes more than the raisins, but the raisins certainly didn't detract. I would have enjoyed it served more as a salad, mostly because I find the store-bought wraps kinda doughy and flat tasting. Also, the small sized wrap was not large enough to pile on a good amount of filling and still wrap it closed to eat in your hands. In short, I would serve it again, and I would use the same combination of greens, but I would serve it as a salad instead of a wrap.