Today marks the first day of the 225th year of the French Revolution! I would not have known this were it not for a gift from my lovely husband a few months ago. He had been listening to Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcasts about the French Revolution and became fascinated with how the revolutionaries altered the calendar. One of their methods of doing away with the Catholic church was to abolish the Gregorian calendar and start anew.

The french republican calendar kept the concept of a 12 month year, but swept away pretty much everything else recognizable about the traditional calendar. Each month was made up of three, ten-day weeks. The tenth day, rather than the seventh, was the day of rest. To account for the several missing days, each year ended in a series of “complementary days.” Each month was named in reference to a seasonal occurence with the first month of the new year beginning on the Autumnal equinox (today!) and named Vendémiaire, or “grape harvest.” Each day, in turn, was named after flora or fauna of the season so that today, September 22, is “grape”.

My husband gave me the very beautiful French Republican Wall Calendar recently and as it hung in our kitchen, it began to inspire our cooking. I found myself cooking more seasonally inspired meals and checking the calendar before making a grocery list to see what fruits or vegetables might be at their peak. It is from this impulse that this blog has sprung. I will attempt to cook a dish every day based on the calendar. Every fifth and tenth day celebrate an animal and a tool or cooking implement. I will do my best to cook or use these items, but will probably skip them in the immediate future as Vendémiaire celebrates the horse and the donkey.

Today, we celebrate the grape! I thought of making dolmades, but then decided to make my favorite chicken salad that incorporates red grapes. Below is the recipe. Enjoy and venture back tomorrow as we celebrate saffron!

Chicken Salad

1 whole fryer chicken (a chicken cut up into pieces)

1 lemon

Dill (a few sprigs)

Green onion (three stalks)

2 stalks of celery

20 red grapes

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 sweet apple

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Bread of your choosing

Mustard

Baby arugula

To begin, set a large pot of water to boil and then boil the chicken pieces for about an hour. Remove the chicken to a plate and let them cool down before you begin shredding them. Shred the chicken, discarding any skin and bones.

Ten minutes before the chicken is finished, begin chopping the green onions, celery and dill and place in a large bowl. Slice the apple in to small slivers and then dice. Place the apple into the bowl with the vegetables and squeeze the juice of the lemon over all of it. Add the cool, shredded chicken along with the pecans, mayo, sour cream and yogurt. Cut the grapes in half and add to the bowl and mix everything together. Place the chicken salad in the fridge and let it cool before eating.

Toast some bread, spread your favorite mustard on the slices and add your cooled chicken salad and arugula.