Romaine Salad with Grilled Lemon Chicken – Salad Days

Some people stay frozen in the era they most cherished, dressing and acting as they did when they felt the strongest, healthiest and most attractive.  Those were their salad days and they hold on tight to the memory by reliving the past in the present.

This recipe doesn’t scream new, but it does shout delicious. The ingredients are common but the flavours blend and the hot on cold combo makes a satisfying light meal. The same marinade-dressing is used to infuse the chicken breast and to dress the salad. There’s a time saver. The recipe is from Anne Lindsay’s New Light Cooking.

Romaine Salad with Grilled Lemon Chicken 

• 3 T each balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, olive oil
• Lemon zest from 1 small lemon
• 2 t Dijon mustard
• 1/2 t each sea salt, sugar and pepper
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1lb)
• 6 c torn lettuce
• 3 c sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 c sliced red onion
• 2 c sliced radicchio, lightly packed
• 1/3 c chopped parsley or dill

Marinade-dressing

Mix vinegar, lemon juice and zest, 1 tablespoon of water, mustard, salt, sugar, pepper and garlic with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a covered container you can shake vigorously. Marinate the chicken in 2 tablespoons of this dressing, refrigerating for at least 1 hour, up to 1 day.

In a large bowl mix the lettuce, mushrooms, radicchio, onion, parsley or dill.  (I couldn’t choose, so I used both).  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the dressing – or less according to how sharp you like your dressing.

Grill the marinated chicken until the juices run clear, letting it rest for 5 minutes before slicing and adding to the dressed salad.  I used the Pampered Chef grill pan. No, I don’t get perks for mentioning their products, I just like using them.

Other ingredients you can add include pepper, feta and croutons. But the warm chicken on the bed of salad tasted just fine as is.

Romaine Salad with Grilled Lemon Chicken Print Ready Recipe

Thank you to Anne Lindsay for a wonderful recipe.  The Canadian Medical Association endorses your cookbook which reassures me that it is a healthy choice.  I look forward to trying many of your recipes and I now have a dozen of them in mind.

I ate this preserved lemon condiment along with bites of chicken for even more sour tones. This was the first time I’ve bought this product and eventually I’d like to try making my own version.  It’s sold at the Metro store next to the hot peppers.

 

The same dressing can be used on any salad. It tasted good on this spinach, mache and strawberry combo.