Chinese Chicken Salad

If you haven't guessed, I LOVE watching the food network. These people make cooking look so easy. Of all the people who have shows, one of my favorites is INA GARTEN or The Barefoot Contessa. (the other is Micheal Smith) If you look at her, you can see she really relishes her cooking and entertaining in her home. As my husband quipped, "don't trust a THIN cook" - ahahaha (take that! Giada de Laurentis... hahaha, you ever wonder how she keeps eating pasta and cheese and still keep sooooo thin???? and you look at her face when she tastes what she cooks and she just ummmmss her way thru it. )


Anyhows.... here is Ina's chinese chicken recipe which I tried. I played around with the ingredients and the cooking because I didn't have everything available.


I also revised this as a salad (Ina made it with asparagus) for ths original recipe, click here

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup good apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I actually did not roast it in the oven, but rather used a griller- the George Foreman griller-- preheat it)

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan (I actually pounded the chicken with a mallet first, to make it more even)  and rub with the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Grill for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is  cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle.  Slice the chicken in large bite-sized pieces. Grill the peppers for 5 minutes.

 Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the chicken. cut the lettuce into bite size pieces and arrange in a bowl.Place the chicken on top and drizzle some more sauce.

Tip: Reheat in microwave if you plan to eat later, as the sauce will get really stiff (I think the peanut butter has something to do with this) Also, arrange the chicken on top of the lettuce when you are ready to serve, to prevent the lettuce from wilting.


The day after you cook this, if you have leftovers, you can make a sandwich by placing lettuce over a piece of bread and topping the chicken on it. Pack extra napkins as it is a bit oily from the peanut butter sauce. If you like your peanut butter... this recipe is for you. and it is still good the day after! (doggie bag!!!!)