Monday, December 5, 2011

Secret Recipe Club: Fall-Inspired Chicken Salad


It's that time of the month.  Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  (It's basically the only day I can consistently keep up with this blog, too!)

I was real excited this month because I got Isabelle from Crumb: A Food Blog.  I've been reading her blog for quite a while, even when it was still called Good Food, Good Wine, and a Bad Girl.  She always has interesting blog posts - and there's always a point where I leave with my mouth watering.  You know that's a good sign!

As always, it's hard to pick what recipe to choose, but since Andy and I are on a bit of a healthy-eating food kick right now, I picked one of Isabelle's delicious looking salads - The Fall-Inspired Grilled Chicken Salad.  Isabelle had a fancy Cuisinart Griddler to do her grilling for her, but since I don't have one of those, and refuse to bust out the George Foreman - I simply sauteed my chicken breasts over the stove.  Besides that minor detail, I pretty much stuck to the recipe as is because it was just that good!

Ingredients:
Adapted Recipe from Crumb

1 large chicken breast, butterflied
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning (I made my own mix from this recipe)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
mixed salad greens
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced
1/4 cup mixed fruit and nut trail mix

Season each side of the chicken breast with the cajun seasoning mix.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add chicken breast and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until browned.  Flip over and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly.  Set chicken aside on cutting board to rest.

Make vinaigrette by combining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, spicy brown mustard, shallot, and garlic in a small bowl.  Whisk until mixture is emulsified (no separation of acid and oil).  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with about 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and divide among two plates.  Top greens with trail mix and sliced apples.  Then top with sliced chicken breasts.  Serve with additional dressing, if desired.

Like I said, this was an amazing meal - and I would expect nothing less from something on Isabelle's blog!  Feel like being adventurous?  Join the SRC today!


37 comments:

  1. I really love this kind of salad; healthy but tasty good. What a great assortment of recipes; thank you.
    Rita

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oooo! Apple cider, dijon, maple syrup?! Yes please, sounds perfectly seasonal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mmm... great recipe and gorgeous photo. Great pic for SRC!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You arrange things so beautifully. I feel like I'm looking at a fancy restaurant dish.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks great---thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay! I'm so glad you were my secret recipe buddy this month, and even more glad that you liked the recipe you picked. :)
    (The fancy Griddler doesn't make it taste any better, BTW... plus a pan equals less washing-up once the cooking is done, which is always a plus.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This salad looks beautiful - healthy and yummy. The dressing sounds tasty too with the sweet maple syrup. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a delicious looking salad!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the seasonings. looks like a great recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great recipe! Cajun chicken is just delicious and I love all of the wonderful salad ingredients! Healthy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Delicious salad Peggy. It is healthy and filling too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks delicious and I'm happy to see you posting!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't know why I don't make chicken salad more often. This recipe has a lot to offer and you did a beautiful job with it. Good pick.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Brilliant dish, nice choice for this month's Secret Recipe club! Love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, looks absolutely gorgeous :) I love the herbs on the chicken :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I had to skip on the SRC this month. :(
    The salad looks gorgeous, I think it is that time we all go on a healthy kick for a while :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yum! I love a good grilled chicken salad! The dressing for this sounds perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a delicious salad! I need to eat more salads this time of year so this recipe is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Delicious post and lovely pic.
    http://www.easyfoodsmith.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Looks very tasty.
    http://lacucharacuriosa.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a great way to eat healthy. The salads looks beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Really loving this salad. This time of year I don't eat enough salads but this one could easily be slipped into the routine.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Very lovely with all the ingredients you have added inside. This will make a great dinner for me and the balance will be into two slices of toasted bread.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've never had spicy brown mustard before. I love Dijon mustard in dressing and this really looks like a wonderful chicken salad! Cajan seasoning is nice flavor with the green too! Good luck with everything Peggy! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Mmmm this really does look like a great fall salad! I love all the flavors. Looks perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I just checked out the Secret Recipe Club website, what a fun thing to participate in! I don't have the 100 recipes required to participate yet, but it will give me motivation to get there! :-)
    This chicken salad looks so delicious. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I wish I could taste this one. It really looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  28. What a great fall inspired salad! I especially love that it has maple syrup in it! Looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great salad with all those interesting ingredients. The photo is very inviting.

    --------------------------------
    Regards
    Spoon and Chopsticks
    http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  30. This does look so good. Perfect during a time of year where we are all indulging. I would love this salad for lunch today! Thank you for sharing it with me.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I had to skip out on SRC this month, but this salad looks divine and makes me excited for next month!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Looks perfect and healthy! Nicely presented too...

    ReplyDelete
  33. I saw this picture on a foodporn site and totally knew it was one of your dishes without even looking at the source. Love the apples and greens this time of year!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails