Chicken and Radish Salad

While writing a post on cholesterol, and how our diet can affect it. I had said “Boiled skinless chicken breast and salad for the rest of our lives can be boring” and that statement is so true. But, here I am writing post about chicken breast and salad, I guess I’d better make it good. Well, my chicken and radish salad is healthy, delicious, and, yes, it’s good.

I’m not big fan of greenery in my salad. Maybe, I should be more specific to “leafy” greenery. Lettuce and such, to me, are just fillers. That bowl of lettuce with a slice of tomato and a couple of carrot sticks on top that I get from the local restaurant is not satisfying. Don’t get me wrong, arugula and romaine are delicious. And, I think a little greenery is good for any salad, just, it shouldn’t be the main ingredient. I want my salad to be filling, I want substance. But at the same time, I don’t want a salad that takes hours to cut up and prepare and cost a small fortune.

I used to think that a good salad had to have variety. Lots of different ingredients. This does make a good meal salad. By the way, a meal salad is exactly what it says it is, a salad that’s a meal. The problem is that, when using a lot of ingredients, you usually buy more than you need of and individual item, that drives up the cost. This also creates the possibility of waste, as the unused veggies sit in the fridge. You could make a salad a few days in a row, but, that’s more work, or, you could have left over salad, that tends to get soggy.

My solution is fewer ingredients, using more of what you have, therefore less waste, but good flavor. I have written a post about a simple three ingredient salad as a heathy side. Please read my post, radish and cucumber salad with citrus dressing, it’s simple yet delicious. So, the idea here is to take some of that simple side salad, add some protein, and, turn it into a meal salad. And that’s exactly what my chicken and radish salad is, a meal, that looks good, tastes good, and, is healthy too. The dish breaks down into two components that we’ll mix together.

Starting with the chicken. Plain boiled chicken breast is, well, plain. To make it more interesting, cube it, and, sauté it in the skillet first. The prep is pretty simple. A chicken breast cut into one inch cubes, sprinkle with some kosher salt and coarse ground pepper. Let it sit in a bowl for a bit while the other ingredients are prepped.

You can’t sauté anything alone, always has to be accompanied by something, it’s a mirepoix, and, adds to depth of flavor, and it works here too. Now, I want to be able to see and taste the sweet caramelized onions and garlic in the salad, so, coarsely chopped is fine. Preheat a skillet over medium high heat, add some oil, when hot throw them in, let them brown a bit, then add the chicken, and, let that get a little crispy on the outside, sweet and juicy on the inside. This process is called The Maillard Reaction, it is essential to creating that flavor we’re looking for.

Once the chicken breast is done, set aside to cool while the salad portion gets built. I want this salad to be simple and easy to build. Just five different ingredients. As always, clean any food before you eat it, safe food prep is very important. Leading the list of vegetables is the radish. I love radishes, they add some crunch to the salad, and the have a little bite in their taste. Cut them in half then slice thin. Now for tomatoes, halve and scoop out the seeds, chop up nicely. Peppers will add a sweet crunch to the salad. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and then slice into thin pieces. And, finally, cheese, simply because cheese makes everything better.

A point to note, I’m a big fan of using whatever is in the fridge, and, I’m not a fan of special trips to the store. This helps to keep costs down, we all live on a budget. On top of that, everyone has different tastes when it comes to vegetables. So you can pretty much swap out anything in this recipe list, just maybe not the chicken or radish, then the name would have to be changed. The idea is to use what you have, and, don’t make it too complicated, because it’s healthy food no matter what veggies are in it.

None of these vegetables individually brings a tremendous amount of vitamins and minerals to the dish. However, fresh uncooked vegetables are good for you, and, it’s more of what they don’t bring: fat and carbs. Once the veggies are chopped and diced, put into a large bowl. Add the cubed pan seared chicken breast with the onions and garlic, coarse ground pepper and a decent sprinkle of lime juice, mix well. And, there you have it. Chicken and radish salad, the chicken has tremendous flavor, and the lime juice adds a nice citrus note. Thank you for reading and enjoy the meal.