Grilled Chicken Salad @ The Elm Tree, Toronto

Grilled Chicken Salad

With all of us doing our part to take care of each other and #socialdistancing, we wanted to share some of our favourite recipes that can be done at home. We know home salads can get boring, so our first recipe is an exciting twist on a grilled chicken salad.

This salad is a beautiful meal in a single bowl. The lemon-sumac vinaigrette takes a little bit of effort, but we guarantee the result is worth it! You can add other vegetables into this salad, like cucumber, radish, and avocado — the possibilities are truly endless. As with most salads, this dish is best eaten immediately.

Serves 4–6 people

Ingredients:

4–6 chicken breasts (depending on how hungry you are), grilled then sliced

5 cups arugula

1 small bulb fennel, very thinly sliced

2 sweet apples like honeycrisp, cored and thinly sliced

1 leek, white part only, thinly sliced

2 oranges, peeled and cut into segments

4 tbsp peeled, toasted hazelnuts, chopped

For the sumac vinaigrette:

3 lemons, juiced and zested

100 mL simple syrup, made from equal parts granulated sugar and water

40 mL vegetable oil

2 tbsp sumac

Salt to taste

Method:

To prepare the dressing:

1. The day before you would like to eat this salad, begin to prepare the dressing.
2. Zest the lemons into a small bowl and seal with plastic wrap. Juice the lemons, but do not discard the peels. Set the juice aside in an airtight container for later.
3. Place 1/3 (~30 mL) of the simple syrup in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the reserved lemon peels, and blanch for 1 minute.
4. Immediately transfer the lemon peels to a bowl and allow to cool completely. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
5. The next day, bring 1/3 (~30 mL) of simple syrup to a boil in a small saucepan. Blanch the lemon peels again for one minute.
6. Second blanch — repeat first blanch steps, but this time you do not need to refrigerate the lemon peels, simply allow to cool to room temperature.
7. Do a third blanch in a small saucepan with the reserved lemon juice (~30 mL) and the last 1/3 (~30 mL) of simple syrup. Discard the Lemon Peels and transfer the liquid to a bowl.
8. Blend the reserved zest with the liquid from the third blanch. In a slow but steady stream, add the oil while whisking constantly until all of the oil has been added and the mixture is fully emulsified.
9. Mix in the sumac, and season with salt to taste.

To prepare the salad:

1. Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place on the grill for approximately 8–10 minutes or until the juices run clear. Make sure to flip the chicken breasts halfway through cooking!
2. While the chicken is on the grill start slicing the fennel, apples, leek, and oranges. Don’t worry if you don’t get this all done in 10 minutes! The chicken will need to rest for a few minutes after being removed from the grill before being sliced into strips.
3. Add all of the salad ingredients (except the toasted, chopped hazelnuts) to a large bowl with approximately 1/2 cup of the lemon-sumac dressing, and toss to coat.
4. Garnish with the toasted hazelnuts.*

Note:

To toast hazelnuts: preheat the oven to 400F. Place the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet, and roast for approximately 10 minutes (be sure to check on them starting around 6 minutes in case your oven runs hot). Remove the tray from the oven and allow the hazelnuts to cool for 5 minutes. While still warm, transfer the hazelnuts to a clean tea towel, and rub together until the skin peels off.

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