Teriyaki Citrus Chicken Salad

Last Year's Post: Cabbage and Spring Onion Tart
Two Years Ago:  Lemon Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl

Did you know that there's a citrus industry in Arizona?  Neither did I until I moved here.  Granted, it's not anywhere near as big as in Florida, but it's wonderful to enjoy fresh lemons, oranges, tangerines and grapefruit for several months each year.  I had the luxury of making this salad using fresh tangerines, but you can make it year-round using readily-available oranges from your local store.  You could probably even get by using fresh orange juice out of a carton, but if you go that route I might suggest starting with a little extra juice and concentrating it down to the same half cup to compensate for the lack of zest strips in the marinade.

Anyway, back to the beginning.  This is a slight twist on your normal teriyaki chicken because it includes citrus flavors in the marinade (orange or tangerine), the salad dressing (lemon), and the salad itself (mandarin oranges).  It's light, refreshing and healthy. Although the chicken needs to marinate for a few hours before cooking, that part can be done in advance or even the day or two before you plan to serve the salad.  You can also make the salad dressing in advance, so meal-time prep becomes a matter of slicing and assembly which makes for a quick weekday dinner.

The soy and honey in the marinade give the chicken a beautiful bronze color after it's cooked.

The sesame seeds and toasted almonds add crunch and the mandarin oranges add sweetness to the salad while a little leftover sauce brings a big pop of flavor.  I think fresh pineapple chunks and/or cucumber slices would also be good and might add them the next time around.  True confession:  I forgot to add the almonds to the salad before I took the picture up top.  The salad was good without them but they added extra crunch so try not to leave them out.

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Teriyaki Citrus Chicken Salad

Serves 4

Note: the chicken can be marinated and grilled in advance, then refrigerated.  The salad dressing may also be made in advance, so it will take just a few minutes to slice the chicken and assemble the salads.

For the marinade:

1 cup fresh orange or tangerine juice

½ cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup honey

4 strips orange or tangerine zest (each about 1 ½ by ½ inch)

2 cloves garlic, peeled and gently crushed with the side of a knife

2 green onions, trimmed, white parts gently crushed

2 slices fresh ginger (each ¼ inch thick), peeled and gently crushed

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

For the salad dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

For the salad:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

8-10 cups mixed baby lettuces, washed and dried

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 (10.5 oz) can mandarin oranges in natural juice, drained

½ cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 green onions, trimmed and sliced

To make the marinade:  place the orange or tangerine juice in a nonreactive saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Let boil until reduced by half.  Add the soy sauce, honey, zest strips, garlic, green onion whites, ginger, cinnamon stick and sesame oil.  Stir, then let boil until slightly thickened, about 6-8 minutes.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and let cool, then remove the solids from the pan using a slotted spoon. 

Remove any excess fat or sinews from the chicken breasts and discard.  Rinse and blot dry.  Gently pound the breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap until they’re an even thickness.  Place in a zip-top bag and pour half of the marinade into the bag, reserving the remaining marinade to use later.  Close the bag and massage the contents to evenly distribute the marinade, then place in the refrigerator for at least one hour and up to 4 hours, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, make the salad dressing:  combine the lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a small screw-top jar and shake to combine.  Set aside.

To cook the chicken, preheat an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan to medium-high.  Remove the chicken from the bag and discard the marinade.  Arrange the chicken pieces at an angle on the grill grates and cook for 4 minutes.  The outside of the chicken should turn a deep brown in spots from the caramelizing of the sugars in the marinade but shouldn’t burn.  Flip the chicken and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165d, basting each side with some of the marinade (that was reserved earlier) during the last few minutes.  Total cooking time should be roughly 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.  Remove the chicken and let come to room temperature, then thinly slice at an angle.

To assemble the salads, toss the lettuces lightly with enough salad dressing to just barely coat.  Divide among four plates.  Sprinkle with the sliced green onions, mandarin oranges, and toasted almonds.  Divide the chicken slices between the salads, arranging decoratively on top of the greens.  Spoon some of the leftover marinade on top of the chicken, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. 

Turkey Farro Salad with Candied Chickpeas

Last Year's Post: Couscous with Turkey or Chicken
Two Years Ago:   Turkey & Pomegranate Salad

I happen to think that turkey is highly under-rated as an every day meat as opposed to a special occasion meat.  It's cheap, healthy, readily available, and kids and adults like it equally.  Maybe one problem is the sheer volume of leftovers when you cook an entire turkey, but these days you can buy a split turkey breast or even turkey tenderloins.  These two turkey tenderloins weighed .60 lb, cost $3.29, and will feed four people as part of this recipe.  Not bad.

Of course, this is also a great recipe if you have leftover turkey and is a total change from a big heavy holiday dinner.  The salad is light but complex with fresh greens, chewy farro, fresh and dried fruits, creamy blue cheese, and candied chickpeas in addition to the turkey.  I really liked the candied chickpeas because they have a hint of sweetness and a hint of spice from the pepper.  But if you don't want to go to the bother of roasting them, substitute sweet/spicy nuts of any type that are coarsely chopped, or even plain roasted pecans or walnuts.  The chickpeas are interesting but nuts will have more crunch.

Speaking of substitutions, if you don't happen to have farro any other chewy grain will work - bulgur, quinoa, wheatberries, or even wild rice.  You can also substitute fresh clementines that are peeled and cut up instead of mandarin oranges, but I just happen to like mandarin oranges.  And you could add some kale to the lettuce, or substitute it entirely.

Cook the turkey in advance and place the tenderloins and pan juices in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator for an hour or so.  The juices get reabsorbed and the turkey will cut perfectly.  If you also make the farro and candied chickpeas in advance, this becomes a really fast meal to pull together any day of the week.

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Turkey Farro Salad with Candied Chickpeas

Serves 4

1/2 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1/8 cup packed brown sugar

¼  cup olive oil plus 1 ½ tablespoons, divided

Salt and ground black pepper

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 turkey tenderloins (1 pound total) or leftover cooked turkey

½ cup uncooked farro

1 ½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 large Gala, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp apple, cored and thinly sliced

2 romaine hearts, chopped (8 cups)

1 can mandarin oranges (drained), or 2 fresh clementines, peeled and cut up

2 tablespoons dried cranberries

1 ounce high-quality blue cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Drain and rinse beans, then spread on a kitchen towel to dry thoroughly. Line a shallow baking pan with parchment paper and spread beans in a single layer in pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar, ½ tablespoon of oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper; stir to coat beans evenly. Roast for 50 minutes or until amber colored, stirring twice for even browning. Remove and cool in pan.

Sprinkle poultry seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon salt over turkey. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and add turkey. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until done (165 degrees F), turning occasionally to brown evenly.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan bring farro and broth to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer according to package directions until tender but chewy. Drain off any liquid; cool.

In a small bowl or jar, add the lemon juice, ¼ cup olive oil, mustard and ¼ teaspoon salt.  Whisk (or shake the jar) until blended.

When ready to serve, thinly slice the turkey.  Add apples and romaine to a large bowl and add enough dressing to coat, then toss gently. Transfer salad to a platter or plates. Arrange turkey, farro, and chickpeas over greens. Top with oranges, cranberries, and blue cheese.

Chicken Salad with Fruits and Peppadews

Love, love salads!  Although this salad just screams summer, you could make it any time of the year because the fruits - strawberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple and avocado - are available year-round. In addition to the beautiful fruits, this salad features savory chicken, toasty nuts, a fresh citrus vinaigrette, and peppadews.  If you're not familiar with peppadews, they're small red peppers with a bit of heat and sweetness.  They're sometimes available in the olive bar at your grocer, otherwise you can find them in jars with the olives in the grocery shelves.  (They make a really great appetizer filled with cream cheese or goat cheese.) I would definitely serve this salad to company - it's beautiful, fresh and elegant.

Back in the days when The Lawyer and I had a giant community garden, we decided to grow our own peppadews.  Turns out that's not as easy as it sounds.  The peppers grow in South Africa and the seeds and breeding rights are closely guarded.  We scoured the internet and found a close substitute for seeds.  The surprise was that the peppers are so hot they pretty much melt your tongue and only become peppadews after removing the seeds and pickling them in a sugar brine to calm the heat.  The Lawyer, being ever inquisitive, tried a raw pepper and regretted it for quite a long time.  You should have seen the looks on our faces when we were first tried the pickled version after his fire-eating experience - pure fear which turned to relief when we found out they were great and just like store-bought peppadews.  Life is an adventure.

* * click here for a printable recipe version * *


Chicken Salad with Fruits and Peppadews
Four servings

Salad:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Lemon pepper seasoning

Salt

1 avocado

1 bag baby salad greens

1/2 cup thin sliced red onion

1 cup mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup sliced strawberries

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks

8 – 10 Peppadew peppers, cut in half

1/2 cup pecans or almonds

Citrus Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice (about one orange)

1/3 cup fresh grapefruit juice

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover and chill.

Sprinkle the chicken with lemon pepper seasoning and salt. Grill or broil until done, about 5 minutes per side. Set aside to cool slightly, then thin slice on a diagonal.

Toast the pecans or almonds in a dry pan or oven until fragrant (this just takes a minute so watch them carefully). Coarsely chop the nuts.

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit, then score the avocado flesh into cubes with a knife and scoop from the shell using a spoon. Gently combine salad greens, onions, mandarin oranges, strawberries, pineapple, peppadews and avocado chunks in a bowl. Toss with some citrus vinaigrette. Place on plates, top with sliced chicken breast and nuts. Spoon a little more vinaigrette over the chicken.