With spring around the corner, it’s time to think about lighter, healthier meal options that will still satisfy even the hungriest dinner guest.
Dinner salads are a great alternative to a heavy meal, and are a quick and easy option. They are simple enough to prepare for your family after work, but impressive enough to serve to guests.
One of my favourite dinner salads is a take on the chicken club sandwich. It combines all the elements of a chicken club sandwich- chicken, bacon, and tomatoes- all on top of a bed of greens and drizzled with a creamy lemon garlic dressing.
In this particular salad, my preference is to render some of the bacon into small, crispy bits, and cook the rest in strips. This not only makes the salad look more presentable, but also adds more texture. I recommend cooking the bacon and chicken first, so that assembly becomes fast and easy once the dressing is prepared. The best thing about this recipe is that the chicken and bacon can be prepared up to a day in advance, and stored in the fridge until assembly time.
I hope you enjoy my spin on this classic favourite!
Lizz’s Chicken Club Salad
For the dressing:
- 3 egg yolks
- Juice of half a lemon
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ½ shallot, minced
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. In a large stainless steel bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are light in colour, about 30 seconds.
2. Add the lemon juice, Dijon, shallot, and garlic, and whisk well. Continue whisking as you gradually pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream into the mixture. The mixture will emulsify, lighten in colour, and should be a smooth silky dressing.
3. Taste a small bit, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. I recommend using about twice as much pepper as salt.
For the Salad:
- Mixed greens, about 1 handful per plate
- 6 strips of bacon, cooked and cut in thirds; plus
- 3 strips of bacon, cut into small bits and rendered off.
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced into strips
- 2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
Method:
1. Lay out four dinner plates, and place a small handful of greens on each plate. Try to keep the greens in the center of the plate, and as high as possible (this makes the salad look nice, and it’s how the professionals do it)
2. Place your cooked strips of bacon on top of the greens, followed by the chicken strips. The chicken should be laid on top of the bacon, but the bacon should still be partially visible as you want to showcase every element of this salad.
3. Drizzle a small amount of dressing over the salad.
4. On the other side of the plate, place a small amount diced tomatoes.
5. Top the salad off with bacon bits, and serve immediately.
Lizz Hill is a Toronto based chef.
