Leftover Do-Over: Asian Salad with Chicken

Did you make Slow Cooker Curried Chicken and Applesthis weekend? If you did, chance are that you have some leftover chicken. If you didn’t, you should, but in the meantime, you can use any precooked chicken breast for this recipe. Or, leave it off completely—It’ll still be delicious! Kevin feels much the same way about salads for dinner as he does about soup for dinner—He eats and enjoys them, then asks, “Great, so what’s for dinner?” This salad, though, was substantial enough to fill the void for him, so it should be sure to satisfy your heartiest diner! If you enjoy creating Asian food, you’ll most likely have the dressing ingredients on hand. If you don’t your local grocery store or Asian market should have them inexpensively. I am usually not a big fan of vinaigrette dressings (yogurt-based is my preference), but these ingredients blend to create a delightful, non-acidic tasting dressing.

Asian Salad with Chicken

Dressing Ingredients:

Dressing Ingredients

•  1.5 T. rice wine vinegar
• 2 T. sesame oil
• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 1 T. tahini or peanut butter
• 2 tsp. honey or maple syrup (Rush Apiaries)
• 1/4 tsp. ginger (fresh is best)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
• wasabi, to taste (use caution! a teensy bit goes a loooong way!)

Salad Ingredients:
One of the great things about salads is that you can leave just about anything off or add anything in!

Salad Ingredients

• Few leaves red cabbage (Pure Sprouts All Local Bin)
• 4 handfuls Asian lettuce blend (Pure Sprouts All Local Bin, from 14 Acre Farm)
• 4 white mushrooms (Jett’s Natural Produce)
• 1 large carrot (Jett’s Natural Produce)
• 1 Fuji apple (Strawberry Acres)
• leftover cooked chicken (Valley View Farms)
• 4-6 scallions (Jett’s Natural Produce)
• handful bean sprouts (Pure Sprouts All Local Bin from the Sproutman)
• wasabi almonds (these are from a Girl Scout sale)
• Asian vinaigrette (recipe in this post)

Dressing Directions:
Make the dressing first so that it can sit for at least 30 minutes so the flavors will meld.

1. Whisk together rice wine vinegar and oils until well blended.
2. Add soy sauce, tahini or peanut butter, and honey or syrup, whisk until smooth.
3. Mince garlic (and ginger, if using fresh).
4. Add garlic, ginger and sesame seeds, plus wasabi, if using, and whisk again.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.
   

   Not too vinegary!

Salad Directions:

1. Cut cabbage leaves into thin strips. Thinly slice mushrooms, carrot and apple.
2. Place lettuce on bottom of serving dish.
3. Top with red cabbage.
4. Arrange carrots, mushrooms and apple over lettuce & cabbage
5. Chop or shred chicken and place on top of veggies.
6. Chop scallions and almonds. Sprinkle over chicken.
7. Top with bean sprouts and drizzle with vinaigrette.
   

   The combination of flavors and textures in this blend is simply exquisite, not to mention nutritious!

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Midweek Menu: Asian Cucumber Salad

One of the things that most amazed me when we traveled to the west coast was the variety of world cuisines available for sampling, all based off of fresh, local ingredients and prepared with simplicity. One of my frustrations with the Lehigh Valley had been what I perceived as a “white-washing” of the food … Even ethnic dishes seemed bland and Americanized. I must admit that I was wrong about this thought—A bit of looking has revealed some fantastic restaurants which I will write about later.

In the middle of the week, takeout can be tempting, but you can whip up this Asian salad in way less time than it takes the delivery guy to show up at your door. It uses the soy sauce left over from the last time you ordered in. Pair this crunchy side with your favorite stir-fry or marinated and grilled protein.

Asian Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

Everything you need for this easy snack or side dish.

• 1 cucumber (this beauty is from our CSA at Heritage Farms)
• 2 packets of soy sauce from your local takeout joint (or equivalent)
• 3 T. sesame oil
• A palm-full of toasted sesame seeds
• Freshly grated ginger, to taste (optional—I didn’t have any handy, so I didn’t use it, but if you have it, I am sure it would be amazing!)

Directions:

1. Slice the cucumber as thinly as possible (if you have a mandolin, use it!)
2. Add soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss to coat. (Add ginger, if using.)
3. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and toss again.
4. Can be served right away, or let marinade 30 minutes for stronger flavor.

YUM.