Orange Tarragon Chicken Salad and Cranberry Scones

Last night's dinner was more in the line of something for ladies who lunch than for a big strapping ex Eastern Oregon cowboy who used to rope and ride bulls, but you know what? He loved it, especially the Cranberry Scones. He's been after me for a while to whip up a batch, so I did.

Scones are really just a glorified biscuit and this particular recipe's from a favorite Canadian cookbook called the Purity Flour Cook Book. The first book was printed way back in 1917 and reprinted in 1923 and again in the '50's. Honestly, I'm not sure which of the earlier ones she owned but it's one of the few cookbooks my Mother had, along with the Five Roses Cookbook, when I was growing up. Mother's copy was well used and abused and poured over for hours by yours truly. Yup, even as a kid I loved to cook. My thoughtful friend Shirien was able to find a reprinted copy from 2001 and surprised me with it. That's where I found this scone recipe - you know I treasure this book as it brings back some incredible memories. Download Cranberry Scones

 
  
The chicken salad that accompanied the scones is a creation of sorts using orange rind and juice to flavor the mayo, along with some dried tarragon and sweet onion. It's light, different and very refreshing and would be great in a sandwich or a wrap too. We had it on mache' lettuce along with some orange slices, preserved kumquats, toasted pecans and a lovely perfectly ripe avocado which was a little overkill. Avocados are incredibly inexpensive here right now so you'll likely be seeing a lot of them over the next little while. Download Orange Tarragon Chicken Salad

 It was one of those easy on the cook dinner's and easy on the kitchen too. We topped the low 90's again yesterday but I gotta tell ya', one thing this hot fall's doing is making our citrus trees put on a spurt. The meyer lemons turned a brilliant yellow this week (and there's a ton of them), the grapefruit are well on their way and our mineola oranges are wearing a decided tinge. All in good time I might add.

Comments

[Mags]

I'm always on the lookout for a new chicken salad recipe and this one looks so different! I'll bet it would work great for turkey leftovers too (thinking ahead to Thanksgiving, can you tell?)

[June]

Great idea re turkey Mags. I think it would work well.