Our friends, Rob and Ami, shared this idea for a salad with us last year and it quickly became one of our favorite meals. We can’t help but think of Seinfeld when we eat this, so we call it “The Big Salad.” We know that it may look kind of weird to have roasted potatoes in a salad, but the flavors of everything work really well here. We love to eat it with some multigrain ciabatta. Yum!
The Big Salad
Serves: 2
Ingredients
4 cups baby spinach
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
10 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
1/2 pound potatoes, diced (we used fingerling, but red, yukon gold or russet would work too)
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup black olives
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Poppy Seed Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Directions
For the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400° F. Place potatoes on a foil lined sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring half way through.
Once the potatoes are in the oven, heat your grill to high.
Place the asparagus on a plate and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap and, using a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy saute pan, pound the chicken light to an even 1/2-inch thickness.
Brush each side of the breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken and asparagus on the grill. Cook chicken until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and turn the asparagus. Continue grilling until the chicken is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove chicken and asparagus from the grill. Tent the chicken with foil and let rest 3 to 4 minutes. Slice the chicken breasts.
Divide spinach between plates. Lightly dress with the poppy seed vinaigrette and arrange all the ingredients on top.
A Pomegranate Spritzer would be a great drink to have with this salad. Mixing fruit juice and sparkling water is a great substitute for pop.
Pomegranate Spritzer
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Sparkling water
Pomegranate cranberry juice
Directions
Place 3 to 4 ice cubes in a glass. Fill it half full with the juice, top with the sparkling water and stir.
This meal really gets us in the mood for summertime (sigh). Why is it still snowing in Iowa at the end of March? Go away winter, nobody wants you here anymore!
What are some of your favorite summertime meals that you just can’t wait to eat again?
Looks great! I’m always looking for good salad recipes. We’ll be making this soon for sure!
looks really really yummy! Next time we break out the grill we’ll have to try this!
Why wait to break out the grill?! You could also cook chicken in a skillet like in this recipe: http://1cupawesome.com/flank-steak-and-chicken-breasts-with-aioli/
Then just add your asparagus to the potato pan for the last 10 minutes of roasting. Voila!
We made this recipe and LOVED it!! We plan on making it a lot more – it’s become a staple in our house!