Food Musings

Healthy, Tasty and a Perfect Any Night Meal

You know how we all have those “stand by” meals…the ones that you can prepare anytime without a recipe and it’s great every time?  This Chicken Paillard recipe is perfect for any night of the week but also so delicious and looks so pretty on the plate that you can serve it to guests too.

The chicken tenderloins are pounded fairly thinly and grilled very quickly.  It’s a quick on the table meal that you’ll want to prepare at least a couple times each month.  You can also try this recipe with pork paillard.  It’s just as delicious and something different from chicken.  I sometimes add fruit and black beans to the salad when pork is included and spice up with pork with a jerk rub.

I purchase the chicken tenderloins from Costco so I have them in my freezer whenever I want them.  They only take an hour or so to thaw or you can just thaw in the fridge all day while you’re at work.

The Citrus salad dressing is a perfect blend with this salad.  I started making this dressing after trying it at a spa in Scottsdale (Marriott Camelback…one of my favorite spas).  It was their signature dressing and the chef shared his recipe with me but I’ve changed it a lot over the years.

Grilled Chicken *Paillard  with Mixed Green Salad

Serves 4

• 1 TB lemon and 1 TB orange zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ cup mayo and ½ cup sour creme
• 2 TB Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Base – Penzeys Spices (or salt and pepper)
• 2 TS Splenda
• 8 boneless, skinless, chicken breast tenderloins, pounded thinly
• Olive Oil and Salt and Lemon Pepper for chicken
• 2 Avocados – sliced
• Toasted Pine Nuts
• Mixed greens
• Green onions to taste thinly sliced
• Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• ¼ lb feta cheese – broken into chunks

Whisk together first five ingredients (through Splenda) and refrigerate for dressing.

Oil the chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat grill to high. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown and just cooked through.

Combine greens, tomatoes and onion in a large bowl. Place each paillard on a large plate and top with some of the salad.  Drizzle with citrus dressing and sprinkle with feta cheese.

* Paillard (Pi-yar) are thin slices of meat which you construct by sandwiching the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of wax paper and pounding them very thin with the side of a meat cleaver.