Pear and Chicken Salad Sandwich

Everyday I make lunch for my 8-year-old son. He loves pears, loves them! However, only about 1/2 a pear’s worth of slices fit in the designated (by me) fruit space in his (reusable, highly recommended) Easy Lunch Boxes lunchbox, so I am frequently left with half a pear to eat for my own boring breakfast or to save for the next day’s lunch.

Recently, inspired by some other leftovers on-hand, I whipped up this delectable, crunchy little sandwich instead. For me, this sandwich is “a little fancy,” so the rest of the lunch is decidedly NOT fancy. This was my epiphany of the day: Just one fancy thing at a time. No need to bake the bread and fry the potato chips yourself. It is just lunch, after all.

This chicken salad is also excellent simply wrapped in lettuce; it could only possibly be improved by the addition of bacon.

Pear and Chicken Salad

Serves: Me

Yields: 1 Sandwich (plus a little extra chicken salad)

Ingredients

• about 1/4 of a good, crunchy pear, diced small
• 1/2 stalk celery, diced small
• a couple of slices of onion, diced small
• cooked chicken breast, diced small (the dice on my chicken is not quite small enough in these photos)
• 1 tablespoon “real” mayonnaise
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste (you won’t need much)
• 2 slices of bread, lightly toasted
• 1 leaf Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
• potato chips and Diet Coke (or whatever makes you happy at lunchtime)

Directions

Mix pear, celery, onion, chicken, and mayo in a bowl. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice in and mix again. Season with salt and pepper. Toast your bread, wash and dry the lettuce. Stack bread, chicken salad mix, and lettuce between the two slices of toast. Enjoy your crunchy lunch.

Even better, wrap the sandwich firmly in aluminum foil for an hour or so. This a) lessens the effect of the sharp edges of the toast–the bane of BLT eaters everywhere, b) allows the flavors of the salad to meld, and c) generally helps the sandwich come together, by which I mean that harmonious sandwich state where it’s no longer just stuff between bread but a unified, new thing. You know?