Showing posts with label Salads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salads. Show all posts
I don't always eat high fat hedonistic food. Sometimes I actually do try to eat healthy. Well, most of the time I do, it just doesn't look like that on here!
Today for my dinner I made myself a lush creamy chicken and avocado salad, with the creamy bit meaning the avocado. I adore avocado.
Not only is this low in carbs and keto friendly, but it is also totally gluten free for those who cannot tolerate gluten. If you rein in the dressing, it is also low in fat and I think totally Diabetic friendly.
Tender, perfectly cooked pieces of chicken sit atop a salad composed of mixed salad leaves, creamy avocado, and rehydrated sun dried tomatoes. Crisp pepitas or sunflower pumpkin seeds as you may know them, make for a tasty and crispy garnish.
You begin by marinating a boneless skinless chicken breast in a simple mixture of garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and some seasoning.
I cut the chicken breast through the middle horizontally, which really helps to ensure a tender finish when cooking.
Because it is thinner it doesn't take quite as long to cook it and still get it nicely browned. It also stays nice and moist that way.
I used sun dried tomatoes that have not been preserved in oil or in water. I buy them in a little tub at the farm market behind my house. They are really tasty and very easy to rehydrate by putting them in a cup and adding some boiling water.
Just leave them to plump up for a few minutes and then drain. I pat them dry after.
You can snip them up with a pair of kitchen scissors, or leave them as they are. I just left them as they were.
I love avocado. I used to be able to buy them frozen in the UK. They were excellent. I think I will start buying them up when they are on offer and freezing them when I can.
Make sure your avocado is ripe. Ripe avocados will have a dark green to nearly black skin, and should yield slightly when lightly pressed.
You should not be able to leave an indentation that stays and they shouldn't feel mushy. A ripe avocado will also have a pebbly skin rather than a smooth one.
There is nothing so lush and rich as a ripe avocado, but unripe ones are not very appealing or tasty. Been there, done that!
I remember ordering a sandwich as what was supposedly a premier sandwich shop in Chester in the UK one time. It was a California club or some such.
It was supposed to have Avocado in it, which it did, very sparse though I have to say. It was not ripe avocado however and was really nasty so I did remove it. Hard and tasteless.
You would think that a shop which specializes in sandwiches would know enough about all of the ingredients they are offering in their sandwiches to get it right!!!
Obviously not. Either that or their staff was not properly trained.
I just used a mix of garden salad leaves here today. Oh how I miss the Baby Gem lettuces from the UK. They were so good.
They looked like little tiny romaine lettuces, but a bit rounder and had a lovely bitter flavor. I could eat them just like apples, they were so good.
I have not seen them here at all. Perhaps this winter I will look for some seeds and possibly plant some next summer. They are my all favorite lettuces.
I used to love making this Baby Gem with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette Salad. It is quite simply my favorite salad. It was from a recipe I found in Good Food magazine a long time ago. Delicious.
But then I am a salad lover full stop and have many favourites.
One thing I love about this one is the pumpkin seeds. I used roasted salted. Because I am naughty like that. You can use just plain roasted if you wish.
They added just a tiny bit of salty crunch. I think if a salad is going to be your main meal for the day, you deserve a bit of salty crunch.
And these have to be much better for you than croutons! So there!
The dressing for this salad is a zesty lime vinaigrette. Its just fresh lime juice, olive oil and seasoning.
Simple. Don't be tempted to use those little squeeze bottles of lime juice. You wouldn't get that same fresh zip that you get from using the real deal. I think you could add a bit of the lime zest as well, which would be nice.
I love the simplicity of the way the chicken is cooked and handled and I loved the nutty crunch of the pumpkin seeds. The richness of the avocado, the sweetness of the tomatoes. I could not improve upon it if I tried.
In short, I quite simply love this salad and I hope that you will too!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Chicken, Avocado & Tomato Salad
Yield: 1
Prep time: 15 MinTotal time: 15 Min
This easy and delicious salad boasts a tangy lime vinaigrette dressing, along with creamy slices of avocado, sweet sun dried tomatoes, crisp pumpkin seeds and perfectly cooked chicken.
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced in half horizontally
For the dressing:
- the juice of one lime
- 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
For the salad:
- a large handful of mixed salad leaves
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
- 8 sun dried tomato halves
- 1 heaped TBS pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Measure the lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper into a dish along with the garlic. Add the chicken pieces and turn them to coat in the marinade. Set them aside to marinate for about 30 minutes, giving them a swish every now and then.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove from the heat, cut into slices and then return to the pan and cook for a further 3 to 4 minutes until no longer pink and nicely glazed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- While they are cooling place the sundried tomatoes into a jar and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for 5 minutes and then drain completely and pat dry.
- Whisk together the ingredients for your dressing.
- Put the salad leaves, avocado and sundried tomatoes into a bowl. Toss with about half of the dressing. Then place onto a chilled dinner plate.
- Top with the sliced cooked chicken and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
- Drizzle with some of the remaining dressing and serve. Save the rest to use as desired.
Tuna Nicoise Salad. I confess I am a huge fan of salads in the summer months. I especially love main dish salads like this one, which is not only a feast for the eyes, but for the tummy as well.
Nicoise Salad or Salad Niçoise as it is also called is a French Salad. It is what is known as a composed salad, somewhat similar to a Cobb salad, with the main difference here being that there is no chicken involved and no bacon either!
This delicious salad comes from Nice, France, which is on the Mediterranean side of France. The side where the Riviera is. So think seafood and sunshine.
One thing which I like about it is that its a salad in which you can totally prepare all of the elements for it ahead of time. This makes it a perfect salad for entertaining as you need only whisk up a dressing and throw things together at the last minute!
The main ingredients for the salad are tuna (of course), boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, green beans and black olives.
In France they always use tinned tuna. I use tinned tuna, but you can certainly cook fresh tuna steaks in the place of the tinned tuna if you wish. Just make sure you don't overcook them or you run the risk of them tasting like chicken.
And trust me, if you have run to the expense of buying fresh tuna steaks to use in this delicious salad, you don't want it to taste like chicken. One minute per side is all you really need as far as cook time goes.
I always just use tinned tuna myself. I do use a solid albacore tuna however. I never buy any other kind. Its just my preference when it comes to tuna.
An Italian lady stopped me in the grocery store one day while I was buying tuna and told me that I should only ever buy albacore tuna. She said the rest was garbage.
Who am I to argue with experience! I was quite young at the time and she seemed to be quite old. In all truth she was probably younger then than I am now, but hey ho! She knew what she was talking about.
I have never bought anything but Albacore tuna since that day. I know it can seem to be a bit expensive, but at the end of the day, you always get what you pay for.
I like it in water or in oil. The one in oil is infinitely better, but because I am watching my cholesterol these days, I always settle for it in water.
This is a wonderful time of year to enjoy this salad. We are being spoiled right now with an abundance of fresh summer vegetables. Green beans, tomatoes, new potatoes, salad leaves.
Everything is so fresh and local and delicious! It doesn't get much better than this!
I love the wonderful earthy flavors of fresh new potatoes. You don't need to do anything special to them, just wash them really well and pop them into a saucepan of boiling lightly salted water.
10 to 15 minutes later, depending on the size of your potatoes, they are done to perfectly. I like them with the skins on myself. More fiber and that skin is so delicious.
Green beans are in season at the moment and our local ones are beautiful. So are the golden yellow wax beans. I have been feasting on them while I can!!
You want to pick beans for this salad that are not overly large in size. The smaller ones have the best flavor.
I have chosen today to use a mix of salad greens consisting of spinach and baby rocket/agugula. I love the iron earthiness of spinach and I just adore the peppery and meaty punch of rocket leaves!
I eat a lot of rocket, truth be told. I love it in sandwiches, on burgers and all sorts. Trust me when I say a roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo and rocket leaves is a sandwich made in heaven!
I only ever buy free range eggs. If you are lucky enough to have a farm close by where you can buy free range eggs, so much the better.
Many people are greatly intimidated at the thought of hard boiling eggs. Its really not that hard and is a matter of timing. To hard boil eggs with a firm white and yolk start with room temperature eggs.
Pierce the large end of the egg with an egg piercer or a needle; this helps to prevent the egg from cracking in the heat of the water.
Place then into a saucepan and cover them completely in water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, maximum.
At the end of that time, remove them from the heat and place them in cold water immediately. This will prevent them from over-cooking and developing that unsightly dark ring around the yolks.
They will still taste okay, should the dark ring develop, but they are not as attractive to look at and in this salad, that's quite important.
Black olives are also an important part of this salad. You should use Nicoise olives if you can find them. I can't find those here so I have used Kalamata olives, which are a wonderful substitution.
The final salad ingredient is ripe garden tomatoes. They are starting to come into their own now. Just an ordinary tomato will do . . . fresh from the vine with the warmth of the summer sun still on its skin.
That's what you want, and what is ideal. Failing that, just get the best your money can buy and leave them at room temperature to ripen for a few days. You won't be sorry!
There are a few other things you can add if you want to. Capers is one. I adore capers. Vinegary, salty, they go so very well here.
Some thinly sliced red onion also works well. I have gone for simplicity here however, so I did not include either of those two things.
The final element of course is the dressing and I say keep it simple. I have chosen to use a simple vinaigrette dressing without any bells and whistles. With all of that fresh produce, why run the risk of overwhelming them with a dressing which is overly flavored.
Simple. Simple. Simple. Oil, vinegar and seasoning. That's all you need. Let the beauty of your fresh ingredients speak for themselves. Let them sing. A good dressing will only enhance their flavors, not overwhelm them. This simple dressing does just that.
Enjoy!
Tuna Nicoise Salad
Yield: 2
A beautiful main dish salad for those days when you just can't be asked to cook. It makes a great use of the abundant produce available to us this time of year as well.
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 2 TBS white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup (120ml) olive oil
- 1/4 tsp ground paprika
For the salad:
- 2 large free range eggs, hardboiled. peeled and quartered
- 4 new potatoes, scrubbed, cooked and quartered
- 12 French beans, washed, trimmed and cooked until crispy tender
- 2 heaped cups (120g) mixed salad leaves
- 2 tomatoes, washed and quartered
- 12 kalamata olives
- 1 (6 1/2 -ounce/170g) solid albacore tuna, drained
Instructions
- Mix the vinegar and the salt together for the dressing in a small bowl. Leave to stand for a few minutes. Add the pepper and then slowly whisk in the olive oil until the mixture emulsifies. Whisk in the paprika. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Set aside.
- Put the eggs and potatoes into a mixing bowl. Toss with a little bit of the dressing.
- Divide the salad leaves between two chilled plates. Top with the eggs and potatoes. Add the tomatoes and green beans. Place all of this around the edges. Divide the tuna in half and place half in the center of each plate. Scatter the olives over top.
- Drizzle the remaining dressing over everything and serve immediately.
Notes:
You can use two fresh tuna steaks in the place of the tinned tuna. Put a small amount of oil in a skillet and heat over high heat. Season the tuna steaks and sear them in the hot oil, cooking them for no longer than 1 minute per side. Place one onto each plate of salad and serve.
My sister and I went shopping up in New Minas this morning. Since lockdown has lifted and we have both had all of our vaccines we feel a bit safer doing so. We had a lovely morning doing sister stuff.
Its nice to just be able to spend time on our own without any men around, talking girl stuff, having a laugh and being able to window shop, etc. without listening to a man huff and puff in the background.
Letting you know they are bored without saying any words. You all know what I am talking about.
First we went to Michaels the craft store. I wanted to pick up some felt to make some Christmas ornaments. I don't like to just sit and watch television in the evenings.
I like to keep my hands busy with something and since I will be decorating a tree from scratch this year I figured there is no time like the present to get started! Since I am also soon going to be getting a kitten, I figure felt ornaments are the safest route to go.
When we had finished there, we hopped over to Winner's/Homesense. I had a gift certificate to use and it just has the best prices in kitchen ware. I am in need of props etc. to use in my food photography.
And a few gadgets as well, and its the best place to get things like that.
I got myself a set of small dessert bowls, and a relish set, both in what is called Dublin Crystal. Made in China so I don't know how fine it is, lol.
I also got a six inch cake tin. I really wanted two, but there was only one. A quarter sheet pan. Some tart tins, chopsticks. A set of egg poachers, some mini utensils and a wide based spatula/egg flipper.
All will come in very handy in any case. I do miss my Poachies from the UK. They were little paper bags to poach eggs in, very similar in looks to the Myleta coffee filters, except on a much smaller scale.
They were the best things for poaching eggs, but never mind, I will get used to these silicone thingies.
Anyways, it was getting rather late by the time we got back to hers and then I got home and I was starving. I had some cooked chicken in the fridge, and I remembered this delicious Chicken salad recipe I had seen in one of my cookbooks.
The cookbook is by Mary Younkin and is entitled, the Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook. It has lots of lovely recipes in it. It is a book I had had in the UK and one of the ones I decided to replace here in Canada.
I decided to halve the recipe however. I actually cut it in half yet again to make only one, but am giving you the measurements to make two to three servings.
The recipe is called Dill Pickle Chicken Salad Croissants. The photo in the book looked delicious and the recipe was very simple to make, using only a few ingredients.
Cubed cooked chicken. Check. Chopped spring onions. Check. Diced dill pickles. Check.
A variety of seasonings and spices. Salt, pepper, dried dill weed, garlic powder. Check, check, check, check.
A good mayonnaise. I like Hellman's. I buy the olive oil one here. Its really rich and delicious.
You also need some fresh baby greens, arugula (rocket) and spinach. I adore both of those and am trying to get as much iron into me these days as possible, so any way I can eat it, works well with me.
Finally some fresh crisp Croissants to fill with the delicious salad. I picked up a small bag of two on the way home.
Croissants are always best if you pick them up on the day don't you think? Of course you don't have to use croissants.
Any bread will do. Rye bread would be particularly nice, especially the marbled rye, because of the dill pickles in the salad.
Sour dough, white, whole wheat, any kind of bread really. Just pick your favorite kind. I think large crispy and buttery cathead biscuits would be lovely.
If you aren't doing bread in your diet, then this tasty chicken salad would be lovely spooned over a bed of salad greens, or stuffed into a ripe tomato, with some cold rice or pasta, etc.
It would also be great in a wrap or a pita bread. In short, delicious no matter which way you choose to enjoy it.
Its as simple as stirring everything together. Takes all but five minutes to make. And it is truly delicious.
I loved the dill pickles in this, but then again, I am a real dill pickler lover. When my children were growing up I think I made about 52 quarts of dill pickles every year and they always all got eaten.
I just used plain dills, but you could use the garlic dills if you want. I also chose to use baby dill pickles instead of the larger ones.
The chopped pickles really add a lovely crunch, and a nice flavor to the salad. Some of the juice is also used in the dressing.
Chopped spring onion adds a nice hint of sharpness, a bit of color and some nice crunch. I think if you wanted to you could also add some chopped nuts to this if you wanted to, although I am not sure what kind you would like.
Pistachios perhaps? They are green at any rate!
The dressing is a really simple one. Mayonnaise, dill pickle juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Simple. Easy.
Goes together in a flash and all you need to do then is fold in the chicken, pickles and onions. You're done.
All ready to tuck into that moreish croissant on top of those lush greens. Oh boy but this is some good, and I felt very generous.
A chicken salad sandwich should be messy to eat. That's part of the enjoyment I think, don't you? Pass the napkins and enjoy!
Quick, easy and fairly healthy. Shhh . . . don't burst my bubble.
Dill Pickle Chicken Salad Croissants
Yield: 2 - 3
Prep time: 10 MinTotal time: 10 Min
Tender pieces of chicken combined with crisp dill pickle and sharp green onions in a simple dressing to make a delicious sandwich filling. Serve here in croissants, it also works well on its own on a bed of lettuce, or with rye bread, in a wrap, stuffed tomatoes, etc.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60g) good quality mayonnaise
- 1/2 TBS pickle juice
- 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/3 tsp dried dillweed
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 cups (220g) cooked chicken cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 2 medium dill pickles, ends trimmed off and cut into 1/4 inch dice (about 3/4 cup/110g)
- 1 spring onion, washed trimmed and chopped
- 2 to 3 fresh crisp croissants
- a mix of baby arugula and spinach to line the bottom of your croissants
Instructions
- Stir the mayonnaise, pickle juice, pepper, salt, dried dill and garlic together in a bowl. Fold in the chicken, pickles and onions, mixing everything together well.
- Cut your croissants in half lengthwise using a serrated knife. Line the bottoms of the croissants with the greens, then top with the chicken salad, finishing off with the tops of the croissants. Serve immediately.
Notes:
This delicious chicken salad will keep well in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to three days. It is also nice served on a bed of salad greens, without any bread at all, as part of a salad plate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons