The big chicken salad is a main dish salad recipe , and I like it very much because it is full of delicious healthy ingredients: a mix of raw and cooked vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs and herbs, which convert this chicken salad into a main dish. Chicken breasts are cooked with toasted sesame seeds, which add a smoked taste to the salad and make it crunchy. The other ingredients are mixed in a panel of very pleasant flavours in harmony.
Dressed with a strong vinaigrette such as honey, mustard and tarragon vinaigrette, this chicken salad is a perfect summer dish.
Vary the cheese as you want: I personally prefer the salad with feta cheese because it brings a very fresh taste. On the other hand, gorgonzola melts when you incorporate the hot ingredients to the salad, and that’s delicious.
I like it because:
– It is a fresh, healthy and delicious meal.
– It is not difficult to prepare, you just need to cook a few ingredients and for the rest you just cut and add them to the salad bowl.
– You can switch some ingredients according to your taste. I wrote the base ingredients of the salad below, plus a few more that you can exchange or add if you like them better or simply because you have them in the fridge.
In case you use smoked bacon, cook it at the same moment as the chicken.
Tricks:
– Since there are many ingredients, put a little quantity of each only, so that you do not end up with a really huge salad. Personally I put very few salad leaves so that the other components have more taste.
– Prepare the ingredients you need to cook first, and make the others in the meantime. Potatoes and eggs can either be cooked in boiling water or steamed according to your taste, potatoes around 20 minutes and eggs 10 minutes. If you steam them, put them all together. Make sure you break the shell of the eggs after so that they stop cooking.
– If you add the cooked ingredients to the salad when they are still a bit hot, the cheese will melt with the heat. This works very well with the gorgonzola because it is a creamy cheese.
– I recommend having a basil plant in your home if you use it a lot: it grows very quickly and allows you to use more leaves in your dishes without buying bunches of basil all the time.
– Do always serve the vinaigrette separately because you cannot keep a salad for later once it has been dressed.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE:
- 2 potatoes
- 2 eggs
- 3 chicken breasts
- A little bit of olive oil for the pan
- Toasted sesame seeds, as much as you want (I put a lot)
- 2 handfuls of green salad leaves
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/2 red pepper
- 7 oz. mozzarella or gorgonzola (200g)
- 20 basil leaves
- 1 small can of corn
- honey, mustard and tarragon vinaigrette for the seasoning
More ingredients?
- 3,5 oz smoked bacon (100g)
- ½ cucumber
- 1 avocado
- nuts or dry fruits
Big chicken salad recipe
– Boil or steam the potatoes with the skin for 20 minutes, and the eggs for 10 minutes. Check the potatoes from time to time with a knife to see if they are really cooked inside. When they are ready, take off the eggs shell and set them aside with the potatoes.
– In the meantime heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and cut the chicken breasts into thin pieces. When the oil is hot, sautée the chicken until it browns, add enough toasted sesame to cover the chicken pieces, and cook them a couple of minutes more. Set aside.
If you want to add smoked bacon, fry it into the same pan until it browns and set aside.
– Clean the salad and cut it into small pieces with your hands. Cut the tomatoes, the red pepper and the feta with a knife or a food processor to go faster, and throw them into a large bowl.
– Add the corn after removing the water from the can.
Add any of the other ingredients you wish at this moment.
– Finally add the chicken, the potatoes, with or without the skin, and the eggs to the bowl. Chop the basil leaves over the bowl, with cleaned scissors.
Just before serving, mix the salad making sure all the ingredients are melting well together, and serve it with the homemade vinaigrette aside.
Bon appétit!
