Monday, December 5, 2011

Secret Recipe Club: Fall-Inspired Chicken Salad


It's that time of the month.  Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  (It's basically the only day I can consistently keep up with this blog, too!)

I was real excited this month because I got Isabelle from Crumb: A Food Blog.  I've been reading her blog for quite a while, even when it was still called Good Food, Good Wine, and a Bad Girl.  She always has interesting blog posts - and there's always a point where I leave with my mouth watering.  You know that's a good sign!

As always, it's hard to pick what recipe to choose, but since Andy and I are on a bit of a healthy-eating food kick right now, I picked one of Isabelle's delicious looking salads - The Fall-Inspired Grilled Chicken Salad.  Isabelle had a fancy Cuisinart Griddler to do her grilling for her, but since I don't have one of those, and refuse to bust out the George Foreman - I simply sauteed my chicken breasts over the stove.  Besides that minor detail, I pretty much stuck to the recipe as is because it was just that good!

Ingredients:
Adapted Recipe from Crumb

1 large chicken breast, butterflied
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning (I made my own mix from this recipe)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
mixed salad greens
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced
1/4 cup mixed fruit and nut trail mix

Season each side of the chicken breast with the cajun seasoning mix.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add chicken breast and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until browned.  Flip over and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly.  Set chicken aside on cutting board to rest.

Make vinaigrette by combining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, spicy brown mustard, shallot, and garlic in a small bowl.  Whisk until mixture is emulsified (no separation of acid and oil).  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with about 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and divide among two plates.  Top greens with trail mix and sliced apples.  Then top with sliced chicken breasts.  Serve with additional dressing, if desired.

Like I said, this was an amazing meal - and I would expect nothing less from something on Isabelle's blog!  Feel like being adventurous?  Join the SRC today!


36 comments:

  1. I really love this kind of salad; healthy but tasty good. What a great assortment of recipes; thank you.
    Rita

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  2. Oooo! Apple cider, dijon, maple syrup?! Yes please, sounds perfectly seasonal!

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  3. mmm... great recipe and gorgeous photo. Great pic for SRC!

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  4. You arrange things so beautifully. I feel like I'm looking at a fancy restaurant dish.

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  5. This looks great---thanks for sharing!

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  6. Yay! I'm so glad you were my secret recipe buddy this month, and even more glad that you liked the recipe you picked. :)
    (The fancy Griddler doesn't make it taste any better, BTW... plus a pan equals less washing-up once the cooking is done, which is always a plus.)

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  7. This salad looks beautiful - healthy and yummy. The dressing sounds tasty too with the sweet maple syrup. Yum!

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  8. Love the seasonings. looks like a great recipe.

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  9. Great recipe! Cajun chicken is just delicious and I love all of the wonderful salad ingredients! Healthy!

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  10. Delicious salad Peggy. It is healthy and filling too.

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  11. Looks delicious and I'm happy to see you posting!

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  12. I don't know why I don't make chicken salad more often. This recipe has a lot to offer and you did a beautiful job with it. Good pick.

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  13. Brilliant dish, nice choice for this month's Secret Recipe club! Love it :)

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  14. Wow, looks absolutely gorgeous :) I love the herbs on the chicken :)

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  15. I had to skip on the SRC this month. :(
    The salad looks gorgeous, I think it is that time we all go on a healthy kick for a while :)

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  16. Yum! I love a good grilled chicken salad! The dressing for this sounds perfect!

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  17. What a delicious salad! I need to eat more salads this time of year so this recipe is perfect!

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  18. Delicious post and lovely pic.
    http://www.easyfoodsmith.blogspot.com/

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  19. Looks very tasty.
    http://lacucharacuriosa.blogspot.com/

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  20. What a great way to eat healthy. The salads looks beautiful.

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  21. Really loving this salad. This time of year I don't eat enough salads but this one could easily be slipped into the routine.

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  22. Very lovely with all the ingredients you have added inside. This will make a great dinner for me and the balance will be into two slices of toasted bread.

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  23. I've never had spicy brown mustard before. I love Dijon mustard in dressing and this really looks like a wonderful chicken salad! Cajan seasoning is nice flavor with the green too! Good luck with everything Peggy! :-)

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  24. Mmmm this really does look like a great fall salad! I love all the flavors. Looks perfect.

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  25. I just checked out the Secret Recipe Club website, what a fun thing to participate in! I don't have the 100 recipes required to participate yet, but it will give me motivation to get there! :-)
    This chicken salad looks so delicious. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

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  26. I wish I could taste this one. It really looks delicious!

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  27. What a great fall inspired salad! I especially love that it has maple syrup in it! Looks delicious!

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  28. Great salad with all those interesting ingredients. The photo is very inviting.

    --------------------------------
    Regards
    Spoon and Chopsticks
    http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/

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  29. This does look so good. Perfect during a time of year where we are all indulging. I would love this salad for lunch today! Thank you for sharing it with me.

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  30. I had to skip out on SRC this month, but this salad looks divine and makes me excited for next month!

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  31. Looks perfect and healthy! Nicely presented too...

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  32. I saw this picture on a foodporn site and totally knew it was one of your dishes without even looking at the source. Love the apples and greens this time of year!

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