Receta Sesame Chicken Salad with Spinach, Scallions and Cilantro
We were having friends for lunch
over the weekend and I wanted to make Chicken Salad. For the recipe I took out three contenders.
Patricia Well’s “The Paris Cookbook” (Harper Collins 2001) had one that would
have put us right in the heart of St. Germain de Pres with a recipe from Le
Bonaparte restaurant there. Wolfgang
Puck would have sent us to Santa Monica and the famous Chinois Chicken Salad
but we’ve already visited there (See http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2011/07/encounter-with-wolfgang-puck-and-his.html
and though we loved the salad, Andrew wanted to try something new. And once again, Tyler Florence and his
“Tyler’s Ultimate” (Clarkson Potter 2006)
won out. This is an Asian inspired
recipe that hits all the Asian flavor parameters—spicy, salty, sour and
sweet. It looks lovely too and terribly
healthy if you ignore the fact that you
basically fry the panko sesame seed crusted chicken, which I am perfectly
capable of doing.
There’s
not a lot of effort involved here. I’ve just discovered the Kendall brand
individually wrapped boneless skinless chicken breasts at Costco and really
cannot say enough good things about them.
They are frozen but when I buy fresh chicken at Costco, I inevitably
take it home and immediately freeze it.
There are always more chicken breasts in the package that I can possibly
use for two servings so all in all the individually frozen breasts make a lot
of sense. The dressing is really
standard pantry stuff as long as you have a minor Asian influence there—soy
sauce and rice wine vinegar and a knob of ginger is about as Asian as the
dressing gets. And then there are the
sesame seeds sold for far too much money in the spice aisle here. I am well aware that cilantro is a turn off
to many people and I would guess you could skip it without incident. But it does contribute a nice taste
difference to what would be an ordinary spinach, cucumber and scallion
salad. The other great thing about this
dish is that you can make it in advance and serve it at room temperature. We served it at lunch but it would work
nicely for a light dinner as well. Here
is the recipe:
Tyler
Florence’s Sesame Chicken Salad with Spinach, Cucumbers and Cilantro Serves 4. Takes 1
hour to make.
For the Vinaigrette:
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about
- 1.5 lb),
- 1 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A couple good handfuls of stemmed spinach
- leaves (about 4 cups)
- ½ English cucumber cut into thin slices
- Handful fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds toasted in a dry
- skillet over low heat, plus extra for garnish
- 1. In a bowl,
- whisk together the soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, ginger, and
sugar.
2. Rinse the
chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Use a sharp knife to cut the breasts in
half horizontally. Put the breasts on a
large plate and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Set the
remaining vinaigrette aside and let the chicken marinate for 10 minutes.
3. Combine the
panko and sesame seeds in a shallow platter and season with lots of salt and
pepper. Mix with your fingers so that the seasoning is incorporated and then
taste it – the panko should be well seasoned. Dredge the chicken pieces in the
seasoned crumbs, patting gently so that the crumbs adhere, until well coated.
4. Heat 1/3 cup
olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Line a platter with paper
towels and set that to the side of the stove. Add about 3 chicken pieces to the pan and cook 2 to 3
minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Remove the chicken to the
platter to drain. Do the same to cook the rest of the chicken.
5. Put the spinach
in bowl with the cucumber, cilantro and scallions and a tablespoon of the
toasted sesame seeds and give them a good toss. To serve, arrange a mound of
greens on each of 4 plates. Put a piece
of chicken atop each salad, stack a few more greens on top, put a second piece
of chicken atop those greens and then drizzle with vinaigrette. Shower with the remaining toasted sesame seeds
and cracked black pepper. Serve.