Leftover Roast Chicken, Pasta, Oak Leaf, Bean and Chèvre Salad with Tomato-Ginger Dressing
(from salonx’s recipe box)
This main-course salad is pretty healthful as it is, and Gordon’s suggestion to add more vegetables would make it even better. This would also be a good place to try out some of the new whole-grain pastas on the market. I think you’ll be surprised at how much the taste is improved.
You need at least half a chicken to feed four people, so if you have a little less you can bulk this up with extra pasta, beans, peas, tomatoes, etc. For the pasta, there are limitless possibilities, but I’d recommend a short noodle rather than a spaghetti-type pasta—like fusilli, penne or farfalle.
Source: weightwatchers.com "Salads by Peter Gordon"
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Serves 4 people
Categories: Salad
Ingredients
- Flesh from approximately 1/2 cooked chicken
- 1 medium head oak leaf lettuce, leaves separated
- 7 ounces pasta cooked in salted boiling water until just tender, but still firm to the bite, drained and refreshed in cold water
- 7 ounces green beans, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes and refreshed in cold water
- 7 ounces chèvre (goat's cheese, but you can use another suitable crumbly cheese, such as feta or English Wensleydale, if you prefer.)
- 2 heads of red Belgian endive, leaves separated
- For the Tomato-Ginger Dressing:
- 3 large ripe tomatoes
- Piece of peeled ginger, about 1/2- by 3/4-inch
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
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First make the dressing. Place the tomatoes, ginger, lemon juice and olive oil in a blender and whiz on high speed for 30 seconds. The finished dressing should be lump free. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then add the extra-virgin olive oil and whiz for another 5 seconds.
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Cut the chicken flesh across the grain into nut-sized chunks and place in a bowl. Cut the larger oak leaf lettuce leaves into 2-inch pieces and add to the bowl; keep the smaller inside ones whole and set aside to finish the salad. Add the drained cooked pasta and the beans. Either cut the chèvre into small chunks with a knife or break it apart with your fingers and add the pieces to the bowl.
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To serve, mix all the salad ingredients together and divide between four bowls. Scatter them with the reserved inside leaves and drizzle with the dressing.