Easy Summer Salads, Lighter Foods for A Brighter Summer
By Mark Brading
Easy summer salads are the way to go, now that the winter blues are fading into the distance and salad days are here. The best salads are light, bright, and easy to prepare.
Who wants to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen when friends are around for lunch, the garden is in bloom and the wine is chilled and ready to pour? But before you start to cook, you can save a lot of energy by buying the right ingredients. That way you don’t need the heavy bottled sauces and dressings to have great flavor. After all you don’t want to take a beautiful crisp summer salad and soak it in a mixture of fat, sugar, salt, and chemicals, do you?
If you start off with great food and don’t do too much to it, you don’t need all these strong tastes. All you need is to combine your ingredients well so that the flavors work together and have a nice crunchy texture. Add a little light dressing to set it all off and let the taste buds do the rest. Freshness is, as in all cooking, the way to a good salad.
Don’t take what the supermarkets give you, even though it’s easier to pick up the ready packed tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, etc. To make sure you get the best, take a minute or two and pick over the vegetables. Choose what is firm, ripe, and ready to use. The same of course applies with meat and fish. There is a reason why supermarkets prepackage, and it’s not always convenience. So choose well, cook quickly and simply, and your friends won’t have finished the wine by the time you get there! Enjoy a little bit of summer now with this easy poached chicken salad.
Easy Poached Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (skinless)
1 finely sliced red onion
1 whole half onion
4 good ripe tomatoes, sliced thickly
250 grams/4ozs salad leaves, mixed
4ozs raisins soaked in hot water for ten minutes
1 half lemon
2 fresh or dry bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 small French, stick loaf, or similar sliced at an angle into 1/2 inch slices
For the dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 dessert spoon Dijon or other mild mustard
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
To make the dressing:
Whisk the vinegar and mustard together with the garlic, slowly add the olive oil while whisking, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
To make the salad:
Bring a pan of water to a boil with the bay leaves, 1/2 white onion, lemon, and peppercorns. Carefully add the chicken and simmer gently until cooked. If you are unsure, it is worth investing a few dollars in a meat thermometer. The temperature should be at least 75° C/167° F.
Place the sliced bread on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, and season with salt. Bake in a medium oven until crisp but soft in the middle.
Mix the lettuce leaves together with the onions and raisins. Mix in the salad dressing and put the salad mixture into 4 good-sized bowls. Place slices of tomato and bread alternately around the edges of your salad bowls. Slice the warm chicken at an angle and place attractively on top of the salad.
Sit back and enjoy.
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