Chicken Salad Sandwiches with Blueberry Jam

I've been collecting recipes for foods to serve at teas for several years now, and I must say this in one of my all-time favorite sandwiches to serve.  I found the original recipe for Blueberry Chicken Salad in the July/August issue of Tea Time magazine.  When I decided to try the recipe, fresh blueberries were not in season, and therefore unavailable at my local market.  A couple of years prior, my friend, Gina Madden, had made a chicken salad sandwich for a tea at the church and had used a fruit jam on the bread as a spread before adding the chicken salad.  I had loved the flavor of those sandwiches, so I decided to see if I could find a blueberry jam in lieu of the fresh blueberries.  I found one and, because the sandwiches made this way were such a hit, I've never tried making them the way the original recipe was written!

One reason that this chicken salad is so tasty is that both the light and dark meats of a rotisserie chicken are used.  This makes it more moist, and I think, more flavorful.  I frequently buy one of these chickens when I go to Costco and leave it on the counter to cool for about an hour.  I then remove all the meat, breaking it into small pieces, and put it in a freezer bag in the freezer if I'm not using it immediately.  At any given time, I usually have a bag of this chicken in the freezer.  This cuts down on the preparation time when I want to make these sandwiches.

To make a fine texture, I pulse the fresh or thawed chicken meat in my food processor for about 15 seconds and remove it to a large bowl.  The next step is the most tedious.  I wash the grape tomatoes and then cut each one in half across and then cut each half in quarters.  They have to be cut this way so the pieces are not too large in the chicken salad.  I add the tomatoes to the chicken, cut the green onions; add them and toss all the ingredients together to combine.  Then I add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper and mix until well combined.

Tea sandwiches never have crusts, so I stack two slices together to cut off the crusts.  This way they match perfectly when the sandwich is put together.  I then lay the two pieces on a cutting board as if I've just opened the sandwich.  I spread a thin layer of the blueberry jam each slice.  If I'm making these sandwiches ahead of time, first I spread each slice of bread with a very thin layer of butter to keep the blueberry jam from soaking into the bread.  Then I top one side with the chicken salad mixture, spreading to the edges of the bread, and put the other piece of bread on top, jam side down.  For a tea, the sandwich gets cut into four pieces, whether squares or triangles.  If making several types of sandwiches for a tea, I usually mix up the shapes as well as the types of breads I use.

This in one of the most tasty tea sandwiches I make.  Enjoy!

Chicken Salad with Blueberry Jam

1 (2 ½-pound) rotisserie chicken

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved and quartered

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1 cup mayonnaise

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Blueberry preserves

1 loaf of sandwich bread

Remove meat from chicken; discard skin and bones.  Place meat in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until coarsely chopped, about 15 seconds.

In large mixing bowl, combine the chopped chicken, tomatoes, and green onion.  Add the mayonnaise, oil, salt, and pepper, and mix until well combined. 

To assemble sandwiches, spread each bread slice (I use 100% whole wheat bread) with a thin layer of blueberry preserves.  Place a generous portion of chicken salad on one side of sandwich, spreading to the edges.  Place the other side on top and cut into desired size and shape.  (The blueberry preserves should be on the “inside” of the sandwich).

For tea sandwiches, I cut off the crusts before assembling and once assembled, cut each sandwich into four triangles.