More Fall Cooking

I have to say, fall seems to be my favorite time for some of the more exotic ingredients in season. I've raved about the pomegranate, pumpkin and fig, and there are still items popping up at the grocery stores getting me excited. Today I'm focusing on the persimmon, another one of those beautiful, uniquely colored fruit that signals the cooler fall weather. Popular in Japan, persimmons have fascinated but perplexed a lot of Americans. I mean, I rather photograph them than figure out what to do with them other than to eat it as is. (And even then, people get confused about when to eat it.) In many restaurants, I've seen them used as an accent to a salad, the sweet fruit and bright color making it a nice touch. Once I was eating at Universal Cafe in Potrero Hill and they had on the menu a Chicken Salad with Persimmons. I love chicken salad and would make chicken salad after roasting a whole chicken for dinner. So my mouth was already watering at the prospect of chicken salad with beautiful persimmons. But when my order came out, I was disappointed to see a green salad with chicken slices and pieces of persimmons (again as an accent). It tasted great because the persimmons were ripen just right. But I was so used to seeing persimmons in green salads, I had hoped this would be different. Well, that memory inspired me to come up with the recipe below--what I thought I would have received when I ordered chicken salad with persimmons. Enjoy!