There are quite a lot of components in this salad, which is why it’s so enjoyable. Grilled chicken, chilled, sliced on the bias served over tricolored seasoned quinoa with oven roasted spring asparagus and roasted julienne dill carrots, along side oven roasted Spanish smoked paprika garbanzos, toasted pignolis, spring spinach and arugula, crumbled goat cheese and a delicious lemony vinaigrette. It’s textural, colorful, deeply flavorful and any leftovers make for a fabulous wrap!
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SIMPLE LEMONY DILL VINAIGRETTE
Makes approximately 1 Cup
- 3/4 C extra virgin olive oil
- 4 T fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1 T fresh organic dill, stemmed and finely hopped
- 1-1/2 T minced garlic
- 1-1/2 tsp toasted cumin
- 1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1-1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
In a medium bowl, add all ingredients and whisk until well until incorporated. Make this a couple of hours before serving – even better the next day! Keep refrigerated in sealed glass jar for up to two weeks
FOR THE SALAD
Makes 4 entree salads
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil, plus more for roasting garbanzos and vegetables
- 2 T fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest, plus more for garbanzos
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1-1/2 tsp fresh organic thyme, chopped (or dry thyme)
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, plus more for garbanzos
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1-1/2 C tricolored quinoa, cooked per instructions
- 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut in 1″ lengths
- 2 large organic carrots, julienne cut in 2″ lengths
- (1) 15 oz can organic garbanzo beans, drained
- 4 T extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T Spanish smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp organic sugar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 C fresh organic baby spinach
- 2 C fresh organic arugula
- 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 C toasted pignoli nuts (or toasted slivered almonds if you want to save a $1000!)
- Fresh dill and chive garnish
- Sliced lemons and oranges for garnish
In a small roasting pan, well coat chicken breasts with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, Worcestershire, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. On a medium high heat, [depending on size of chicken breast] grill marinated chicken breasts for approximately 5 minutes per side. Remove from grill, set aside to rest. Once cool enough to handle, slice each piece on the bias. Set aside until assembly. Cook quinoa according to directions, drain and cool in the fridge until ready to assemble. Preheat oven to 450. On two parchment lined sheet pans, lay asparagus and carrots on one pan. Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil on both vegetables, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt each. Toss to coat. On the other parchment lined sheet pan, spread out drained, towel dried garbanzos in one layer. Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil, smoked paprika, lemon zest, salt, sugar and toss to fully coat. On upper layer, slide in your vegetable sheet pan and on the lower level slide in your seasoned garbanzos. Put in oven for 5 minutes, then flip vegetables over with a spatula to continue caramelizing on other side and stir garbanzos around to get more color. Return vegetable to oven for another 4-5 minutes, but leave your garbanzos in for r minutes longer than your vegetables. Set aside to cool. In a small mixing bowl, toss cooled quinoa with cooled asparagus and carrots. In a larger bowl, mix spinach, arugula and red onion. Slice citrus. And if your pignolis are not toasted, lightly toast them in a cast iron pan on medium low heat, stirring frequently. Watch carefully so not to burn.
FOR SALAD ASSEMBLY
On chilled dinner size plates, distribute spinach arugula mixture evenly. The same with the quinoa, asparagus and carrots. Fan out one chicken breast per plate, next to the quinoa. Nestle in garbanzo beans and top with pignolis. Crumble goat cheese over the spinach arugula mixture. Add garnishes and serve with lemony vinaigrette on the side.