Last Friday, I started my first day of a leadership certificate program. I was very excited to start a new class and to meet new people who are passionate about the public and nonprofit sector. We spent the morning going over the program, what to expect, and took professional photos. At around noon, we had a lunch break. I didn’t bring lunch with me, so I ended up heading across the street to the student union to pick up lunch. I browsed through the different food options, and ended up picking up an Asian chicken salad with peanut dressing. The salad had tons of spinach, carrots, and radicchio, a grilled chicken breast, and a side of peanut dressing. It was a simple salad, but the peanut dressing was the perfect complement to the salad. I enjoyed the salad, but loved the peanut dressing. I made a mental note of the different flavors in the peanut dressing. When I got home last week, I started experimenting with different flavor combinations for my version of the peanut dressing. The next morning, I decided to make my version of an Asian chicken salad with peanut dressing for dinner. For my version, I cut up a carrot, cucumber, and scallions. I also added some kale, spinach, and arugula as the base for my salad. To make my peanut dressing, I made a variation of my peanut dipping sauce. I served the salad and dressing alongside a cast iron pizza. Pizza with a side of salad is one of my favorite go-to dinners for two people. It’s simple, quick, and always delicious. Whenever Kevin and I have movie nights, we like to have pizza with a side salad. We may be having a lot more movie nights as the weather outside has been absolutely frightful. Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to drop as low as -2°F. This is apparently the coldest Ohio has been in the last few years.
Asian Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing:
For the Asian chicken salad:
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
· 2 chicken breasts, cut horizontally in half
· 2 cups spinach, kale, and arugula blend
· ½ of a granny smith apple, thinly sliced
· 1 large carrot, peeled and julienned
· 1 cucumber, cut into thin strips
· 2 stalks scallions, thinly sliced
For the peanut dressing:
· 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
· 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
· 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
· 2 teaspoons lemon juice
· 1 teaspoon soy sauce
· 2 tablespoons soybean oil
Directions:
1) Heat a grill pan on medium heat. Once hot, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Grill the chicken breasts on the grill pan for 2-3 minutes on each side until the chicken is cooked through, and grill marks develop on the chicken breasts. Let the chicken breasts cool before cutting into thin strips.
2) In a large bowl, toss together the spinach, kale, arugula, thinly sliced apple, julienned carrot, cucumber strips, and scallions. Add the thinly sliced chicken breasts to the salad.
3) To make the peanut dressing, combine the sesame oil, peanut butter, hoisin sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce, and soybean oil in a small bowl. Stir until the dressing is smooth. The dressing should be smooth, but still thick. Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad just before serving.
Takeaways: This is a very loose interpretation of an Asian chicken salad. You can add in any other crunchy vegetables of your choice. I also like to occasionally add in thinly sliced radicchio and thinly sliced red pepper. To keep the apple slices from browning, toss the apple slices in some lemon juice.