In an effort to bring more vegetables into my life, I’ve been enjoying more salads. Salad really is the perfect lunch – it not only makes it easy to eat lots of vegetables, but its components can be made ahead, it’s usually portable, and it can be a great way to re-purpose leftovers and use up odds and ends of veggies, fruits, bits of cheese or meat. That being said, the best salads are not born out of a clean-out-the-fridge exercise, they’re a more deliberate combination of textures, tastes, and temperatures. In other words, a recipe. So I’m calling this salad of baby greens with chicken and goat cheese Main Dish Salad #1 – because I have lots more salad ideas that I’m planning to share in the coming weeks.
If you’re going to make a lot of salads, it helps to be prepared and stock up on interesting ingredients to add variety. (Check out my Salad Matrix for some ideas.) The only time I get bored with salad is when I look in the crisper drawer and there’s nothing in there but romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, and a bell pepper. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but they’re not enough to make me say, “Yay, salad!” This salad on the other hand — soft baby greens topped with slices of tender roast chicken, crumbles of tangy goat cheese, chewy dried cherries, crunchy walnuts and a drizzle of syrupy fig vinaigrette — is something to cheer about.
This salad looks gorgeous with its shining river of dark glossy fig vinaigrette across the top. What you don’t see is that half the vinaigrette is already on the greens, underneath all the toppings. I always toss the greens with dressing first, then add the goodies like chicken, nuts, and fruit, then drizzle some more dressing on top to finish. This avoids the horrible condition in which one bite of lettuce is totally dry while the next is drowned in a big glob of dressing.
To toast the walnuts, put them in a small, dry skillet over medium heat. Warm the walnuts, tossing them occasionally, until they’re lightly toasted and fragrant, about 10 minutes – watch to make sure they don’t scorch. Let them cool before adding them to the salad.
This recipe gives quantities for one salad but it’s easy to multiply. If you’re serving more than 2 or 3 people, dress the greens in batches (Step 2) – you need some room in the bowl for tossing.
For more salad ideas, see:
- #2: Not Quite Nicoise
- #3: Chili Chicken Chopped Salad
- #4: Spinach Salad with Bacon, Egg, and Maple Vinaigrette
- And don’t forget to check out my Salad Matrix for mix and match ideas.
Making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- The chicken is best cooked ahead and cooled before slicing or dicing – this is a great vehicle for leftover roast or grilled chicken, or store-bought rotisserie chicken.
- The vinaigrette can be made ahead and kept chilled until needed. Vinaigrette will solidify in the fridge so take it out an hour or so ahead and let it come to room temperature. If you forget to do this, you can warm it quickly by dunking the (tightly closed) container of dressing into a larger bowl partially filled with hot water, letting the water come up just to the level of the top of the dressing. Let the dressing sit in this water bath until it loosens, changing out the water if needed to keep it hot enough. Once it’s loose enough to move, shake the dressing to re-emulsify it.
- This salad is so quick to put together, the only reason I can think of to assemble it ahead is if you’re packing it to go (to the office or on a picnic, say). To assemble the salad ahead, combine all ingredients except the dressing. When you’re ready to eat, add the dressing and toss the salad. In this case I would opt for chopped rather than sliced chicken, for easier tossing – because you haven’t dressed the greens separately first, you’re going to need to do some vigorous tossing to get the dressing evenly distributed, so forget about a beautiful presentation and just go for it.
- Once the salad has been dressed, enjoy it right away, no leftovers.
Baby Greens with Chicken and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- For each salad:
- 2 tablespoons fig (or Balsamic) vinaigrette, plus additional for serving
- 1½ ounces baby lettuce mix (about 3 cups loosely packed)
- Kosher salt
- 3 ounces chilled cooked chicken breast, sliced or cubed
- 1 ounce goat cheese (plain or herbed), crumbled
- 2 tablespoons dried cherries
- 2 tablespoons chopped toasted walnuts
Directions
- Step 1 Make the vinaigrette. (Refer to the recipe for Basic Vinaigrette and make the fig variation, or Balsamic if you don’t have fig vinegar on hand.)
- Step 2 If your baby lettuce is not pre-washed, wash and dry it. Put the lettuce in a large mixing bowl or salad bowl. Drizzle the lettuce with 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Toss the lettuce and dressing together, thoroughly coating each leaf with a light sheen of dressing. Transfer the dressed lettuce to a serving bowl.
- Step 3 Arrange or scatter the chicken, goat cheese, dried cherries and walnuts over the lettuce and drizzle the remaining tablespoon of dressing over the toppings.
- Step 4 Serve the salad with additional dressing on the side.
