Copperfield's Signature Chicken Salad

One upon a time I owned a cafe called Copperfield's Coffee Cafe. We served soup, panini, and lots of chicken salad. This recipe is for our most popular version.

                             Copperfield's Signature Chicken Salad

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped into 1/2 inch dice or smaller
2 ribs celery, chopped into 1/2 inch dice
1 medium apple such as Gala, Empire or Red Delicious, cored, seeded and chopped in to 1/2 inch dice.
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup mayonaise (I always used Hellman's)

Combine the chicken, celery, apple, raisins, walnuts, salt and pepper in a wide shallow bowl. Mix thoroughly. This is an important step to blend the seasoning with the other ingredients. Add the mayonaise and mix until blended. Serves 4.

We roasted bone-in chicken breasts, cooled them and chopped the meat. Sometimes we poached boneless, skinless chicken breasts and sometimes we bought precooked chicken. I always thought the roasted bone-in chicken breasts gave the best flavor.

A scoop of this chicken salad with a cup of tomato soup was a cafe favorite.