I was undecided of what to post for this year’s first recipe, if a sweet or a savory one. I opt for a light, yet satisfying dish salad that would be great to prepare for lunch or dinner. I thought it would be of great benefit since I am sure many of us have healthy eating as one of our New Year resolutions.What I like the most of this dish is the homemade orange salad dressing that goes well with many salads. I hope you do try this soon because it's so good that all bottled dressings made with artificial ingredients in your home will be tossed away. I use homegrown organic bitter orange juice, but you could use the juice of a fresh sweet orange for a slightly sweet tang dressing.
I hope your New Year started with wonderful blessings for you and your family! Mine has been so far so good and I have faith it is going to be a blessed Year. There is a new addition to the family, her name is Snowflakes. I know if any of my family and close friends read this they are going to think I am crazy since I already have eight other dogs, but I had to keep this one, she is the dog I always wanted. I’ll be very busy training her, so wish me luck. You can see Snowflakes here.
I also would like to thank everyone who bought my eBook. You can find more information on, How to Cook Dominican Style, here. This mini project is my first step towards achieving my goal of one day making a tangible book with all my favorite traditional recipes. For those who like baking sweets I have two more pending eBooks. I could tell you upfront that one is about suspiro and that I have been working on it for over a year. I hope to have it published soon.
Ingredients:
For dressing:
½ cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons cider or red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
3 teaspoons of crushed, about 3 cloves (divided)
5 Tablespoons olive oil (divided)
A pinch of black pepper
Salt to taste
For the Salad:
4 seared skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch strips
Pinch of granulated sugar to brown chicken
A pinch of paprika
1 whole washed and torn green leaf lettuce
2 washed tomatoes sliced
Medium washed cucumber cut in cubes
Preparation:
1. In a blender, combine orange juice, vinegar, mustard, 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, 4 Tablespoons of oil and pepper. Blend on high for one minute until thick and light in color. Set aside.
2. Season chicken breasts with, black pepper and remaining 2 teaspoons of crushed garlic. In a hot skillet pour remaining 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and pinch of sugar.
3. When sugar begins to brown place chicken breast in the skillet and sear for 3 minutes on each side, and then cover a cook over low heat for 15 minutes adding 1-2 Tablespoons of broth or water if necessary to prevent it from sticking to pan. When fully cooked removed from fire and cool before cutting.
4. In large bowl, toss together lettuce, chicken, tomato and cucumber slices. Pour dressing over the salad and serve immediately.
If you prefer you can serve with some croutons and / or grated Parmesan cheese on top.
Yield: 5 servings.
Notes:
a) Dressing keeps well for 3 days if kept covered in the refrigerator. Maybe it lasts longer, but I have never kept it longer than that.
b) Tomatoes and cucumber can be substituted for any vegetable of your choice.
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