Santorini Chicken Salad

This is a real tasty salad and perfect for those hot summer days! This picture does not do it any justice and I apologize but sometimes I completely forget to take the picture or I have a large group of ravenous teenagers wanting to eat supper and they do not want to watch me take the perfect photo.

This is a Greek inspired salad that I ate at my favourite burger joint in B.C. and thankfully I have the recipe in their recipe book I got for a gift. It is a meal on a plate and a good salad to prep ahead of time and have ready. I like to make the vinaigrette, lemon grilling sauce, grill the chicken breasts and prep my vegetables the night or day before. Then when I get home from work all I have to do is throw it all together.

Anyways, the vinaigrette is so yummy so do not skip the dressing in favour of a store bought version!! You can dress and toss the salad with the chicken added or you can lay the sliced chicken breast over top of the salad. In the above picture I tossed it all together but for presentation purposes slicing the chicken breast and laying it over top looks impressive!




Santorini Chicken Salad

Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette:

2 large shallots, peeled, plus olive for brushing shallots.

6 Tablespoons olive oil

4 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons minced garlic

½ teaspoons dried thyme

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon coarse black pepper

pinch of cayenne


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly brush shallots with olive oil.

Place in a baking dish and cook for about 30 minutes until a golden brown colour.

Cool shallot.

Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Refrigerate.


Chicken Grilling Sauce for Grilled Chicken Breasts:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

4 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped or a pinch of dried whole-leaf rosemary

2 pinches dried oregano

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons coarse black pepper

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Combine all ingredients into a small bowl.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts




Preheat BBQ to medium.

Grease grill well.

Brush a little sauce over the breasts and place them on the grill.

Rotate the chicken after a few minutes to give them nice grill marks.

Brush remaining sauce over chicken while cooking.

Flip chicken and repeat.

Remove chicken from the BBQ when fully cooked, set aside.



Chicken Salad:

1 head of romaine, chopped

Assorted salad greens, 142 gram container or 5 oz. (About 8 cups)

1 large red bell pepper, chopped.

1 small cucumber or ½ large

½ Cup thinly sliced red onion

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

½ Cup or more crumbled feta cheese.


In a large bowl combine all the salad ingredients.

Add dressing or vinaigrette.

At this point you can decide to slice the chicken into small pieces and toss into the salad, or plate the salad with the dressing and lay the sliced chicken breast over top of the salad.

Serve with rounds of Greek pita bread that have been brushed with olive oil and warmed.

Print Recipe:Santorini Chicken Salad

Brush shallots with olive oil.

Roast the shallots. Cool.

Combine vinaigrette ingredients into a food processor.  

Add shallots.

Puree.

Pace in a jar and place in fridge for up to five days. If using right away leave out because the dressing solidifies.

 

In a small bowl combine lemon grilling sauce ingredients.

Grill chicken on a well greased medium heat BBQ.

Love those grill marks. Brush with lemon grilling sauce.

 

In a large bowl combine all the salad ingredients. Dress with vinaigrette. Add feta cheese.