With the holiday cooking season fast approaching, we thought it the perfect time to cull back through Tin House’s various forays into the culinary world and share some of our favorite recipes.

Kicking things off, Steve Almond’s  go-to meal, which we first featured in our Food &Booze anthology. While it certainly tastes great with chicken, don’t hesitate to substitute your leftover turkey instead.

Steve’s Ultimate Maple Crunch Chicken Salad

We already know chicken and apples go well together, but everything in this recipe sounds amazing, and the best thing is that it requires minimal effort and can be served warm or cold. And, as Steve suggests, it’s sometimes better to keep it simple.

Ingredients:

2 cups smoked chicken (diced straight from the grill)

1 ½ cups McIntosh apples, diced

1 cup celery, thinly sliced

1 cup roasted cashew halves

¾ cup golden raisins

½ cup mayo (more or less to taste)

1 teaspoon curry powder

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Dump ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix.

Suggested Serving:

Straight out of the bowl, with a large wooden spoon.

Steve Almond is the author of a bunch of books, some which he makes himself.  His latest collection, “God Bless America,” was published by Lookout Books.