This is an excellent way to use chicken breast in the summertime for salad as it grills fast and the meat stays moist. The savory-salty-sweet combination of the citrus dressing, bacon and blue cheese is fabulous! My inspiration for this dish was from Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Cookbook and from several Bobby Flay recipes on The Food Network.
For a Printable version, click here.
Greg and I enjoy this salad at least twice a month in the spring and summer.
Serves 4 – Cook for 2 by cutting the ingredients in half…or save the chicken for a nice chicken salad for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
- 1 TB lemon and 1 TB orange zest
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 small shallot, chopped
- ½ cup mayo and ½ cup sour creme
- 2 TB Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Base – Penzeys Spices
- 2 TS Splenda
- 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded thinly
- Olive Oil and Salt and Pepper for chicken (I also like to use Grill Mates Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
- 2 Avocados – sliced in half and pitted
- 2 TB red wine vinegar
- 2 TB extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish
- Toasted Pine Nuts (Trader Joes)
- 1/2 lb mixed greens
- 1 small red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
- ½ lb cooked and crumbled bacon bits
- ¼ lb blue cheese – broken into chunks
Directions
- Whisk together first eight 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.
- Spread a little olive oil on avocado halves and grill just long enough to get grill marks. Drizzle remaining olive oil and red wine vinegar on avocado and sprinkle with pine nuts.
- Combine greens 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 bacon bits and blue cheese on top.
* 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.
