This is one of my favorite recipes from Momma Mac: Blueberry Chicken Salad. Yum-o. It's the perfect summer salad. Fresh & easy. Doesn't require you to turn on the stove or oven, keeping your kitchen cool in the summer months.... Plus it's good for you! As a side note, Matt & I aren't really wild about salad dressings. We usually eat plain old salads.... however, we both LOVE this dressing. It's light and yummy & really 'makes' the salad.
Here's how you make it.
Momma Mac's Blueberry Chicken Salad
The day before... Matt usually grills up some chicken the night before (4-6 boneless skinless breasts, depending on how many adults you want to feed) & then we refrigerate it overnight. The recipe calls for one whole roasted chicken, but we like the grilled flavor & I'm all for keeping the heat outside of the kitchen in the summer. You could roast, poach or grill your chicken. Whatever your pleasure.
Night of... I like to start with the dressing. Why? Because I hate to do dishes so by starting with the dressing, I can whip it up in a large bowl & then add all of the salad ingredients into that same bowl & toss.
Dressing... Whisk together...
- 2t Dijon mustard (I actually hate mustard, but I love this dressing so I make an exception)
- 2T minced shallot or red onion
- 2T honey
- 3T freshly squeeze lime juice (2 limes would probably be all you need to buy- I always over-do the lime & use 3)
- 1t salt
- 1/2t pepper
- 1T minced fresh rosemary leaves (we grow it in our herb garden!)
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 1 roasted chicken torn into bite sized pieces (about 6 cups). Like I mentioned above, I use 4-6 grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per adult serving), cut into bite sized pieces.
- 1 large Granny Smith apple, cut into bite sized pieces (I toss with fresh lemon or lime juice before adding to the bowl if I know that we're going to eat it for a couple of nights to prevent browning)
- 1 1/2 cups green grapes, sliced in 1/2
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh & cleaned (don't use frozen blueberries if you don't want blue chicken. I'm sure it doesn't change the flavor, but it might make you say ewwww)
- 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped - I used almonds b/c I had them on hand
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese - I used feta b/c I had it on hand*
- *Alternatively, we've marinated the chicken w/ blue cheese vinaigrette before grilling & you still get the blue cheese flavor!
- Over a bed of baby greens with warm bread!
- I find it better not to toss the greens in the bowl with the fixins because who likes soggy lettuce? Then you can eat it next day & still tastes fresh & delicious!
(Matt's mouth was full...but he was trying to say "This is great!")
Make this for dinner tonight! You won't regret it!
oh my gosh i need that salad. but for serious.
ReplyDeleteYou (reader) don't understand.... The picture cannot do this salad justice. The flavor is so unique and tangy! I could probably eat this all day, everyday, no problem.
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