Monday, August 6, 2012

Oriental Orange Chicken Salad


I LOVE this salad! And when I say, "love" I mean, absolutely love, love, love this salad!! My family does too & that's why I wanted to share this recipe with you. It's super easy & super simple. Just take:

Ingredients:
One bone-in chicken breast
1/2 cup of your favorite teriyaki marinating sauce.
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 of an orange (peeled & segmented)
1 full cup of brocolli, gently steamed & chopped
2 cups of romaine lettuce leaves or mix greens

Makes 2 to 4 servings


 First take your chicken breast, bone side down and place it in the oven on 350 degrees for 35 minutes, to make sure that it's done.  Pour your marinade on first.
 While you're waiting for that to get ready.  In a large bowl, add your washed & ready lettuce leaves and then go ahead and segment out your orange.   Seedless is best if you have it.  If not, you can always, catch the seeds before you add the oranges to your salad.  Next you're going to chop your brocolli.  Now, for my family, I've got to blanche the brocolli first (because they don't like it too crunchy:-)  Blanching simply means that you steam it for a couple of minutes, then immediately transfer the brocolli into a bath of ice water to stop the cooking process. 
Once the brocolli is cooled, drained it and add it to your salad.
 
 When your chicken breast is done, give it about five minutes to rest.   And then we're ready to chop.
 Pull it apart easily with a fork or chop it with a knife.  Then add it to your salad. 
Next add in your walnuts.

And then as a finishing touch, I usually like to take about an additional half cup of the marinade and bring it to a low simmer over medium-high heat in a saucepan.  I remove it from the heat and add a tablespoon of plain rice wine vinegar, one tablespoon of honey, and one teaspoon of orange zest.  Then drizzle it over your salad and enjoy!  This salad is full of texture and contrasting flavors.  It's filling but yet light at the same time.  I hope that your family enjoys it as much as mine does.

Happy baking, happy cooking & happy fresh ingredients!
-Chemeeka