Paula wouldn’t be where she is today without chicken salad.
In June 1989, with two teenage boys and her family near homelessness, Paula took her last $200 and began The Bag Lady, a home-based catering company that jump-started her cooking career. She would wake up before the sun rose and make about 50 sandwiches, which Jamie and Bobby would deliver to the Medical Arts Building (where Paula had worked) to sell the sack lunches to her friends. There were four sandwiches: chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad, and pimiento cheese. The lunches were a huge success, and five years later Paula opened her Savannah restaurant, The Lady and Sons.
Since chicken salad played such an important part in launching Paula’s career, we wanted to share her traditional chicken salad and some great ways to update them. From sweet to spicy, Southwestern to Mediterranean, we hope these chicken salads will inspire you to share them with others, just like Paula did.
You can’t go wrong with Traditional Chicken Salad. Seasoned with tarragon and packed with grapes, celery, and toasted pecans, this salad is best served on a flaky croissant.
