April 9, 2009

Barefoot Bloggers: Chinese Chicken Salad


It has been declared salad week in my household. I made the decision last week for various reasons: hoping to help the weekly grocery budget and my reclaimed weight gain after the breastfeeding ceased. Naturally, I was very excited that McKenzie of Kenzie's Kitchen chose the first recipe this April: Chinese chicken salad.

I did make a few changes:
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Green pepper instead of red
  • Omitted sesame oil
The recipe was ridiculously easy to follow. I baked off the chicken earlier in the day and allowed it to cool before assembling the rest. The green bell pepper didn't deter from the flavor, but rather made the whole dish less appealing to the eye. Too much green. I tried toasting the sesame seeds but they seemed to clump together rather than toast. I left out the sesame oil due to budget constraints - $8.99/bottle! I did add just a teaspoon of a new bottle of 18 year old balsamic vinegar. I did feel 1/2 cup of vegetable oil was a bit much. I would have been satisfied with 1/4 cup. I served this up with a hunk of freshly baked bread.

Results: My husband and I loved it! The only thing that was missing was some good crunch. Perhaps some fried wontons, chopped peanuts, or even broken up ramen noodles would suffice. I think the dressing alone was good had I reduced the amount of oil. A jalapeno would have added nice spice. I can see this fitting easily into our weeknight rotation for an easy fix. We have most of these ingredients on hand all the time.

Final Grade: A-

(now if the Croque Monsieur will be so figure friendly....)

7 comments:

spike. said...

I used chunky peanut butter which helped a bit with the crunch but wontons sound even better

chocolatechic said...

oooooOooooo some Chinese noodles would be fabulous in this.

Jamie said...

I agree about the crunch! Yours looks great!

Anonymous said...

I was so happy that this was a fast, easy meal. After the week I've had I needed something quick & easy.

Glad you loved it! Keep looking for that sesame oil (if you have a Target nearby they have it for like $3)... it makes a world of difference!

~Cat

McKenzie said...

I'm glad you liked the recipe! Won't it be even better with vegetables straight from the garden? Only a few more months. . .

Anonymous said...

I thought this was really good, too. Some peanuts or wontons would be yummy!

Penny said...

I found sesame oil on the international aisle for half the price as the sesame oil on the baking aisle. Go figure! Different brands but still . . .