Summer Snack Attack: Honey-Chicken-Mango Salad

This was a wonderful and light but still filling salad. Besides the little bit of oven time for the chicken, it’s a great summer recipe. If it’s super, super hot, you could always omit the chicken or grill the chicken outside (without the walnut crust) and just add walnuts to the salad. This meal is what the kids call versatile.

The idea for this salad came after watching an episode of Paula’s Home Cooking (or, as we refer to her fondly, “that crazy Southern lady with the pie hole“) — an episode where there was hardly any butter used! How is that possible? There was a salad like this one (without chicken), some baked salmon and something else that may have had a little butter. But a salad! And baked salmon! I was shocked.

In the cabinet, I had some local honey we had just bought and I knew I needed to make this salad right away. I’m really glad I did, it was excellent. I especially liked the chicken and mango combination, with the sweet and tangy honey dressing.

Summery Honey-Chicken-Mango Salad
Dressing:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup walnut oil (originally, she called for 3/4 cups of oil, but I like a closer oil to vinegar ratio in my dressings)

Salad:
2 heads romaine lettuce, cut into chunks
1 mango, seeded, peeled, diced
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 a sweet, white onion, diced
2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 cup walnuts, toasted and ground
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
Parsley sprigs, for garnish (optional)

To make the dressing:
In a blender combine the vinegar, mustard, honey, the 1/4 teaspoon salt, and some fresh ground black pepper. Cover and blend for 30 seconds. With the blender running slowly, add the walnut oil in a steady stream.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s crusting chicken in nut pieces.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a shallow bowl or plate with high edges, combine ground walnuts and Parmesan to make a coating for the chicken. Season the chicken with a little salt and pepper. Then, coat each breast one at a time with the mustard and dredge in the walnut-Parmesan mixture. Set up a little assembly line for this.

Lay each breast piece on a non-stick spray coated baking sheet. I usually lightly spray the tops with a little olive oil to encourage browning.

When all of your chicken strips are coated, bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until the chicken’s temperature is 165. The whole chicken cooking step can done up to a couple of hours before you eat. You should at least let the chicken cool to room temperature before adding to the salad. This will also give your oven time to cool down or allow you to make the chicken part of the meal earlier in the day, when it’s cooler.

When you are ready to assemble the salad, add the romaine to a bowl and toss in the onion, mango and feta.

Add enough dressing to lightly coat and top with the chicken pieces and some parsley leaves to garnish and call it a night.