The official name of this salad should be Grilled Chicken Salad with Candied Walnuts, Homemade Croutons, Apples, and Gorgonzola Cheese with a Honey Mustard Vinaigrette..but that seemed like a bit of a mouthful to me hence the slightly shortened but still wordy version above!
Anyway, I’ve been slowly crafting this salad in my head for the last few weeks and I was so excited to finally have a chance to make it this past weekend. Convincing Jeff to have a salad as the main course is always a challenge but somehow the stars and planets aligned and he decided he could handle it. Of course, he eventually decided to turn the salad into a sandwich at the end, but at least I got to make it! Silly men.
This salad is a tad bit labor intensive because of the homemade ingredients, but oh so worth it. However, all in all, the salad only took about 50 minutes to make in all, and probably would take less time if you’re better at multi-tasking than I am! Plus, you can double or triple the recipes and have extras to use throughout the week–sounds like a win win to me!
Here’s what we’re actually cooking/making for the salad:
1. Candied Walnuts
2. Homemade Croutons
3. Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
4. Grilled Chicken
And here’s the additional ingredients that you just have to assemble:
1. Gorgonzola Cheese (I bought the best block of this at our new Fresh & Easy Market–so much tastier than the pre-crumbled stuff!)
2. Lettuce
3. Fuji Apple
4. Red Onion
Okay, let’s start with the candied walnuts recipe first.
Basically, all you have to do is mix a little sugar with water, coat the walnuts with the mixture, then bake–that’s it! I read a lot of recipes with other ingredients like salt, corn syrup or that involved boiling the sugar first, so I decided to create my own simpler version and it turned out just fine!
Also, I baked my walnuts on my silpat, so I wouldn’t have to spend hours scrubbing the burnt sugar off of my cookie sheets–I love that thing!
Candied Walnuts Recipe
Makes 1.5 cups
Ingredients:
1.5 cup whole walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
Steps:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine sugar and water in a small bowl and mix well.
Add the walnuts to the mixture, making sure to coat each walnut entirely.
Spread the walnuts out on a baking sheet, place in oven, and bake until sugar browns, about 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Time: 15 minutes
Now onto the croutons.
Hopefully you resisted eating all of that bread yesterday because you’re going to need some day old bread for this recipe! This recipe is beyond simple because I like my the bread to remain the main focus. All you really have to do is cut some bread into crouton-sized chunks, coat with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bake–couldn’t be easier to add delicious flavor to a salad!
Homemade Croutons Recipe
Makes 2 cups
Ingredients:
2 cups day old bread, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Steps:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Place croutons on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy!
Times: 25 minutes
Onto the honey mustard vinaigrette!
Homemade vinaigrette is so fun and simple to make. It’s all about starting with the basics–olive oil and vinegar–and adding the flavors you want to complete the meal. In this case, that’s the honey and dijon mustard. I like to use the dijon mustard with mustard grains in it from Trader Joe’s. Adjust the recipe below to meet your sweet/spicy preferences.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Recipe
Makes about 1/4 cup
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Steps:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
Enjoy on your favorite salad or meat!
Time: 5 minutes
And our last homemade ingredient: the grilled chicken. We decided to brine our chicken to help preserve a little moisture ahead of time which is always a good idea if you remember in time! Also, we were feeling a tad bit lazy at this point and decided to use good ol’ poultry seasoning instead of making our own. You gotta do what you gotta do!
Grilled Chicken Recipe
Makes 1 breast
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/4 cup salt
Water
Steps:
About an hour before cooking, place chicken in a large plastic bag with enough water to cover completely. Add salt and refridgerate for at least 1 hour.
When ready to cook, remove chicken from brining mixture and dry with paper towels.
Rub with poultry seasoning and grill for until cooked all the way through, about 5 minutes per side.
Remove and let rest, then cut into 1/2 inch thick strips.
Time: 115 minutes
And finally the main event–the salad! All of it was totally worth it for this, I promise!
Grilled Chicken Salad with Candied Walnuts and Homemade Croutons
Serves 2
Ingredients:
4 cups lettuce, chopped
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/2 fuji apple, sliced
2 tablespoons gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup candied walnuts
1 cup homemade croutons
1/4 cup honey dijon vinaigrette
1 grilled chicken breast, cut into strips
Steps:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Enjoy!
Time: 50 minutes
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