Fred's Chicken Salad with Balsamic Dressing (From Barney's Department Store in NYC!)

Who doesn't love a department store restaurant?  Back in the day however, there were super affordable restaurants in every department store where you could shop until you dropped and then go and sit at a lovely table, maybe with a pretty view and enjoy a half a sandwich and a cup of soup.  Of course today higher end department stores have really magnificent restaurants.  I've been in a few from Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City to Harrod's Department Store in London.  While I've never been to Barney's I did make their famous chicken salad the other night thanks to my subscription to the New York Times and oh yes, it is delicious!  It does take a little time to assemble, but doesn't everything good?  To add some crunchy bits to it, make it your own whether you add some sliced toasted almonds, toasted sesame seeds or crispy onions. P.S. It sounds like Barney's is now in Saks post pandemic.  Well at least they saved the recipe from the Fred days.

The Chicken

Either Roast a chicken or use a rotisserie chicken like, moi!  Cut it up into nice slices and put into the refrigerator until you toss into your salad.  You will arrange the legs and wings if you like around the salad platter when you put the salad together.

The Salad Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic, 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup soya sauce, 2 tbsp. sugar (or substitute in equal measure), 1 tsp. kosher salt, pinch pepper, 1 cup olive oil.  Whisk these ingredients together until it emulsifies.

The Salad

1 cup fresh pears diced into 1 inch pieces, 1 tbsp. lemon juice to put over pears to stop from browning, 4 large handfuls of fresh greens with 1/4 cup snipped herbs like dill, tarragon and basil, 1 cup string green beans, trimmed, cooked and blanched (cool down), 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, 1/2 cup minced onion (red preferably), 2 ripe avocados cut into 1 inch cubes (add some lemon juice over avocados too to prevent browning).

Assemble the salad as you like on a platter or in a big salad bowl and then just before serving, drizzle this tasty dressing over it and add any crunch bits you might also enjoy, toss and dig in!  So delicious!