Fresh From Nancy's Garden

A Fun Place For Gardening Tips and Great Recipes

Jake’s Grilled Chicken Salad With A Roasted Pepper Cilantro Dressing

Leave a comment

 

Jake’s home for a quick visit before he moves to New York and I’m proud (and a little envious) to say he’s a better cook than I am. I don’t know if it was the New Orleans influence or the fact that he worked at one of the best restaurants there, but he can really cook!

His chicken salad with a fresh roasted pepper and cilantro dressing was rich and creamy with just a little kick. It was great on the salad, but I think it would also be good on a steak, a pork tenderloin or even rice. 
INGREDIENTS FOR JAKE’S CHICKEN SALAD WITH CILANTRO DRESSING
  • 2 chicken breasts, bone-in with skin
  • 3-4 peppers, he used ones from the garden, but jalapeno and green peppers would be fine
  • 1-15 oz. can black beans
  • 2-3 ears fresh corn
  • Emeril chicken rub
  • 4-6 limes
  • 1/2 small red onion, sliced
  • a mixture of romaine, arugula, spinach (he also used a lettuce I was growing in the garden)
  • 1 avocado, chopped
  • 2-3 small tomatoes, chopped
  • olive oil 
  • salt & pepper


FOR THE DRESSING

  • 2 bunches cilantro, course chopped
  • 3-4 peppers, roasted on a fire 
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, rough chopped
  • 3 TBS Herdez green tomatillo salsa
  • 2-3 TBS mayo
  • 1/2 lime juice 
  • olive oil, about 1 TBS, enough to moisten
  • salt & pepper to taste

These are the peppers he picked in the garden, but you can use your favorites. Roast them on a hot fire until black. Put in a Ziploc bag and when cool, peel off the blackened part and chop–use the seeds if you like it hot.

Put the cilantro and garlic in a small food processor and blend until smooth, but still a little chunky.

Add the peppers and blend. Squeeze in the lime juice and Herdez tomatillo salsa. Blend again.

Drizzle in the olive oil and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed. 

Transfer to a bowl and gradually stir in the mayo until it is a creamy, smooth consistency. Season again, if needed. Set aside.

Season the breasts with the Emeril Chicken Rub and put them in a large Ziploc bag. Add a little juice from the black beans, (I know, it seems odd, but he did it and it was good), the juice of 3-4 limes and the whole lime after you squeeze it, and the corn milk (the juicy milk part that’s left when you cut the corn off the cob). 

Cut the corn off the cob…and then…

…scrape the cob and then press through a strainer to get the corn milk.

Add about 2 TBS dressing to the marinade.

Put in the fridge for at least a half hour to absorb the flavors.
While the chicken is marinating, rinse and drain the black beans. 

Slice the red onion. 

Make sure the grill is super hot and spray with Pam to get good grill marks on the chicken. (I never knew that!)

Had to add a photo of the chef at work.

Put chicken skin side down on a hot grill, sear for 30 seconds, and half-turn to get the grill marks. 

Add the corn, beans and red onion to the bowl of greens. Add some dressing and toss.

 Here’s a quick way to chop the avocado. 

Season the avocado and tomato with salt and pepper.

Make sure chicken is 180 degrees when you test it with a thermometer. You don’t want anyone to get sick. Let chicken rest for 5 minutes.

After the chicken has rested, slice into strips.

Put a pile of greens with the corn, onion and beans on the plate. Top with avocado and tomato, then place chicken strips on top. Spoon dressing over the plate and get ready for a great meal.

You can eat it just like that…or…add a few crumbled Hav’a Corn Chips like I did for the best chicken salad ever!

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: , , ,

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.