Poached Chicken Summer Salad
I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit recently and had to give it a try. It was as good as it looked – a perfect, light summer salad that is chock-a-block full of nutrition: protein from the poached chicken and beans, healthy fats from the avocado and olive oil, and tons of vitamins and minerals from all the delicious and fresh veggies. Feel free to mix and match and sub out the veggies for whatever sounds great to you. You can see in the photo that we added in fresh sugar snap peas, which are in-season during the summer months, and red pepper, because I put red pepper in almost everything I eat! I’d definitely recommend leaving in the peperocini though as they spice things up in a great way!
Ingredients:
2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1.25-1.5 lbs in total)
3.5 tsp kosher salt
1 lemon halved
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
6 Tbsp EVOO
Freshly ground pepper
8 oz green beans trimmed
1 large head of Bibb lettuce
1 small bunch chives, chopped roughly
1 cup basil leaves torn
1 bunch radishes trimmed and sliced or halved
1 cup torn peperocini; 1 avocado thinly sliced
NOTE: we also added in sugar snap peas and red pepper to our mix
Directions:
Place the chicken in a saucepan with 4 cups water and the salt. Bring to a gentle boil and then immediately turn the chicken over. Cover the pot, remove from heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a cutting board and once cooled (about 10’) thinly slice.
To make the dressing juice the lemon, whisk in the mustard and add the oil stirring until mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste
Using a rolling pin, roll the green beans to help split/ soften the skins. Add the beans to a bowl, add 2 Tbsp of dressing and toss to coat. Season with salt to taste
Toss the lettuce, chive and basil together and then arrange on a platter
Toss the radishes, peperocini and 1 Tbsp together.
Arrange the chicken and all the veggies on the platter over the lettuces; drizzle with dressing, leaving some extra to serve alongside. ENJOY!
