The chicken and vegetable salad is a very tasty preparation, typically summer because it is enjoyed cold, but, in reality, it is also perfect as a lunch to take to work or for leisure. Fresh vegetables and spices make our chicken salad much more fragrant and tasty. It is prepared well in advance (the day before) and can be customized according to needs and tastes. The chicken and vegetable salad is suitable as a single dish to enjoy at the beach, at work, for lunch and dinner, because it is nutritious and light at the same time.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Autumn, All seasons
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs chicken breast
- 5 salad tomatoes
- to taste Basil
- to taste Chives
- 2 leaves Bay leaves
- to taste Extra virgin olive oil
- to taste Fine salt
- 1 head Lettuce
- 1 Spring onion
- to taste Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 18 oz champignon mushrooms
- to taste green and black olives
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 carrot
- 1 pinch curry
Preparation
Remove the fatty parts from the chicken breast (you can also use thighs, drumsticks) and divide it into two parts lengthwise.
Transfer it to a large pot that we will place on the medium burner.
Add the zest (only the outer yellow part) of a whole lemon, 1 carrot, the stalk of the fresh spring onion, 2 bay leaves and the wine (necessary to ensure that the chicken meat becomes and remains soft and juicy) and fill with water until the ingredients are covered by a finger. You can also add other spices to taste.
Turn on the medium burner, bringing it to a low flame, cover and wait for the water to boil. The chicken breast should reach boiling point gradually.
From the first boil, count 5 minutes, then add salt, cover again, allow it to return to a boil and boil, always on a low flame, for another 10 minutes.
Finally, turn off the heat and leave the chicken in the water until it is lukewarm (about a couple of hours).
Then, discard the cooking water and place the chicken in the fridge, in a closed steel or glass container, and leave it for 12 hours. This step in the fridge will allow us to slice the chicken without problems.
Prepare the mushrooms that will enrich the chicken salad. They should only be blanched, not fried.
Clean them, cut them into not too thin slices, wash them and place them in a steel pan with a lid, without adding any kind of fat.
Transfer the pan to the medium burner and, on high flame, let them lose their vegetation water.
As soon as you notice that some liquid has formed in the pan, without burning yourself, pour it away, perhaps using a strainer.
Put the mushrooms back in the pan and repeat this operation again, waiting for the vegetation water to form again and discarding it.
Put the mushrooms back in the pan again, cover, lower the flame to the minimum and let the cooking water form again, which this time we will not discard.
When the water forms, count 10 minutes, during which, always keeping the flame low, we will stir the mushrooms from time to time and complete their cooking.
Drain them, then, with a strainer, add just enough salt and put them back in the pan or a bowl, to cool.
After 12 hours, take the chicken out of the fridge, cut it first into not too thick slices (half a finger is enough) and then into strips. Transfer it to a large salad bowl.
Wash and remove the waste parts from the tomatoes and cut them into cubes.
Cut the lettuce (or iceberg lettuce) into strips, wash it and let it drain well.
Pit the olives and wash the basil leaves.
Add the very finely sliced spring onion, the mushrooms, the basil, (also a pinch of curry and a little finely chopped chives, if desired), a tablespoon of lemon juice and any other ingredients according to our tastes.
Adjust the fine salt if necessary, season with extra virgin olive oil, mix well and let the chicken and vegetable salad rest in the fridge until ready to serve.
