Roast Chicken and Pesto Potatoes Tower With Tomato Eggplant Cold Salad

SERVES 2-3

(A lot of my recipes are just for me and my husband but should double easily!)

Ingredients:

Chicken Layer:

1 C shredded leftover roast chicken or shredded rotisseries, or finely chopped cooked chicken breasts.
½ C drippings or chicken stock
1 t cornstarch

Potato Layer:

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 t salted butter
2 T sour cream
3 T milk
Salt and pepper
1 heaping T of the pesto (see next)

Pesto:

1 C chopped fresh Italian parsley, plus more for garnish
2 cloves garlic finely diced
2 t capers
3-4 T olive oil to mix
Juice from ½ lemon
Salt and a little pepper

Cold Tomato Eggplant Salad:

2 large beefsteak tomatoes prepared concassé
1 C of eggplant, diced
1 T apple cider vinegar
Juice from ½ a lemon
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper 

Direction:

• If you have leftover chicken, finely shred it. Then, put it in a saucepan with either the remaining sauce from the cooking liquid, or add about 1/3 to ½ C chicken stock and heat until bubbly. Add the cornstarch and slowly stir to thicken. Keep warm. (I used leftover roasted chicken with the meat and stock seasoned so I didn’t add any salt and pepper.)
• Blanche and then peel two large beefsteak tomatoes. Cut into fourths, squeeze slightly to get rid of the seeds, then remove any remaining pithy centers. Cut into small pieces. Dice the eggplant and put into a measuring bowl with juice from half a lemon and about 1 T olive oil. Toss to coat to retard browning until you sauté them. Heat a sauté pan with 1 T oil to medium hot. Add the tomatoes, eggplant and the 2 cloves of garlic. Sauté on high just until the eggplant starts to get transparent, about 3 or 4 minutes at most. Then add the salt. Cook about another 30 seconds. Remove from pan and place in bowl. Add the apple cider vinegar, and stir. Cover and keep in fridge until ready to serve.
• Chop the parsley. Chop 3 cloves of garlic. Add the parsley, capers, garlic, lemon juice to a small chopper and whir until small pieces. Add about 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper and lemon juice and blend again, until it is the consistency you want. Cover until ready to serve.
• In another pan, place 2 peeled medium russet potatoes, cut into small chunks, in cold water. Bring to boil and cover and cook until very tender. Remove from heat. Drain. Add salt, 2 T butter, 3 T sour cream and about 1 teaspoon of the parsley pesto. Blend with fork until thoroughly mixed. Potatoes can have chunks of potatoes. What you want is something that sticks together.
• To assemble. Oil generously the inside your cylinder. I used a Pampered Chef acrylic measuring cylinder. Just the clear cylinder. And then used the pestle from my mortar and pestle to GENTLY tamp each layer on top of the other and remove air.
• First, place about ½ C of the potatoes at the bottom. Top with ½ C of the shredded chicken mixture. Then top with 1/3 C of the tomato and eggplant mixture. Slowly lift the cylinder up. Garnish with pesto, a lemon wedge and extra parsley.