Chicken Salad

No specific recipe for this, I sorta mushed together lots of info from the internet with personal preferences.

Two large boneless skinless chicken breasts (mine said 1.7 lbs).

Applied salt and pepper to both sides, popped them in a plastic freezer bag, put a smashed garlic clove on each side and thin slices of lemon on each side, also squeezed the juice of the lemon ends into the bag. Sealed the bag for sous vide by mostly submergeing it to force the air out, then completely sealing it. Left it marinating while heating the water bath.

Set the sous vide machine to 150 degrees for 2 hours. Sunk the bag into the pot when it reached 150 F and beeped at me, waited two hours.

At the end of two hours, put the bag in an ice bath for a few minutes to make the chicken cool enough to handle. Knocked off the lemon slices and garlic and left them in the bag (along with the chicken fat or whatever other juices accumulated during cooking). Took out the chicken breasts and put them on a cutting board. Sealed the bag up, put it in the trash.

Chopped up the chicken into cubes somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch, put them in a bowl. Chopped up about two stalks of celery, put that in the bowl as well. Had some red onion already chopped from previous wraps I made, dumped that in the bowl as well (perhaps a little less than 1/2 onion worth). Also squeezed in a bit of lemon juice (not enough to make it watery).

Squirted in a bunch of mayonaise, mixed everything up with a spatula, shoveled it into a glass container with a tight lid, stuck it in the fridge.

This stuff is wonderful! The chicken is tender and moist, perfectly cooked by the sous vide machine. You can put it in a wrap or just eat it from a bowl, it is delicious any way you try it. I might want to use dill relish instead of onions the next time I make some (not that there is anything wrong with the onion version, just as a variation).

New variation: Inspired by the Boar's Head "Crantastic" chicken salad Publix often has, I've just made a batch of chicken salad with the following ingredients: The sous vide chicken breasts as described above, Duke's mayo, celery, leaks (just the bottom bit of one leak really - sliced thin), golden raisins, Craisins (cranberry raisins), and pecans. No idea if it is any good (but it better be since I made a lot - three big chicken breasts). I'll see what it is like tomorrow. Plan to eat it with a spoon along with some wheat thin crackers, not in a wrap. [Had some for lunch, it is quite good].