San Fran Chicken Salad with Yoghurt Ranch Dressing
Inspired by Souvla, a popular restaurant in San Francisco, this is one of the best chicken salads I've ever had. Yes there are lots of components - but it is worth it! Yoghurt is a terrific marinade for chicken - tenderises, adds juiciness and infuses with flavour. It's satisfying, filling, fresh, great textures, the dressing is awesome. Great show off salad to serve to friends! VIDEO below.
200 - 250 g / 7 - 8 oz chicken breast, halved horizontally
1tbsplemon juice
1small garlic clove, minced
1/2 - 1tbspoil, for cooking
Pickled Onion:
1/2red onion, halved then finely sliced
1/2tspsalt
1tspwhite sugar
1/2cupwhite wine vinegar, or cider vinegar
Marinated Kale:
3cupskale, torn into bite size pieces (Note 2)
1 - 2tspextra virgin olive oil
Pinchof salt
Salad:
1grapefruit or orange
4cupscos lettuce, romaine or other crispy lettuce, torn or cut into bite size pieces
1/2fennel, shaved (0.5 mm / 1/5" thickness) or finely sliced
Handful snow pea sprouts, optional
1/4cupshredded parmesan
Instructions
Mix the Yoghurt Ranch Dressing ingredients in a bowl. Adjust olive oil + lemon juice to taste.
Chicken Marinade: Transfer 1/4 cup into a bowl with the chicken. Add lemon juice and garlic. Toss to coat, marinate for 1 hr - 24 hours.
Place Pickled Onion ingredients in a bowl, toss to coat. Set aside for 1 hour+ or until onion is softened (if in a rush, make sure the onion is finely sliced = faster pickle).
Place kale in a large bowl, drizzle with oil then sprinkle with salt. Use your fingers to massage the oil onto the leaves - you want to ensure every part of the kale is coated in oil. Set aside for 30 minutes or until kale is softened.
Segment the grapefruit or orange - watch the video. Do this over a bowl to catch juices. Squeeze all remaining juice out of the membrane after segmenting.
Pour juices into the Dressing. Mix - it should now be more of a Dressing consistency.
Cook Chicken: Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add chicken and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until nicely charred. Transfer onto plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 3 minutes. Slice thinly.
Assemble Salad: Add lettuce, fennel and chicken into the kale bowl. Spoon over most of the dressing to coat everything lightly, then toss well. Transfer into a serving bowl.
Scatter over grapefruit, onion (not the liquid), top with a handful of snow pea sprouts, sprinkle over parmesan. Drizzle over remaining dressing to taste. Serve!
Notes
1. Feel free to swap the dried herbs for fresh. Triple the quantity if using fresh, finely chopped. i.e. 3/4 tsp of each herb. 2. KALE: Tear the leaves off the thick stalk running down the middle of each leaf, then tear into bite size pieces. Measure the kale by lightly packing the torn pieces into measuring cups. This is a terrific easy way to prepare raw kale for salads.3. This recipe serves 2 generously as a main, or 3 normal people (perhaps with a small roll). Nutrition assumes 2 servings, assuming full fat Greek yoghurt is used.