LENTIL SALAD WITH SMOKED TURKEY AND CHILIES
Serves 6
Lentils are best known as a soup ingredient, but they’re delicious in salads as well. The tiny green lentils from Le Puy, France, are the best. Alternatively, you could use the red lentils found in Indian markets, but shorten the cooking time.
½ pound lentils
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
6 ounces smoked turkey or smoked chicken, diced
1 large ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 scallions, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, plus a few sprigs for garnish
FOR THE DRESSING:
1 clove garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeño chilies
1 tablespoon pickled jalapeño juice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (or ½ teaspoon ground cumin)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pick through the lentils, removing any twigs or stones. Wash thoroughly and drain. Place the lentils in a large pot with 6 cups cold water, the garlic, and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft but not mushy. Drain in a colander, refresh under cold water, and drain well. Remove the garlic and bay leaves.
Combine the ingredients for the dressing in a large salad bowl and whisk until smooth. Mix in the lentils, turkey, tomato, scallions, and cilantro. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and vinegar to taste. Spoon the salad into a bowl and decorate with cilantro sprigs.
223 CALORIES PER SERVING; 16 G PROTEIN; 7 G FAT; 26 G CARBOHYDRATE; 323 MG SODIUM; 0 MG CHOLESTEROL
CHICKEN SALAD NIÇOISE WITH BIG-FLAVOR VINAIGRETTE
Serves 4
This salad recalls one of the most memorable meals I ever had: Lunch with Julia Child at her hillside home in Grasse in the south of France. The moment my wife and I arrived, we were put to work: chopping onions, slicing tomatoes, washing lettuce. We soon sat down to a magnificent salade niçoise, which we ate al fresco. In this recipe pepper-seared chicken replaces the traditional tuna. The vinaigrette uses chicken stock in place of most of the olive oil for flavor with less fat.
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or 2 cups cooked chicken
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cracked black peppercorns
kosher salt to taste
FOR THE SALAD:
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed
½ pound haricots verts or green beans
2 large ripe tomatoes, very thinly sliced
4 to 5 cups mesclun (mixed baby lettuces)
¼ cup niçoise or kalamata olives, rinsed and drained
2 hard-boiled eggs, yolks discarded, whites coarsely chopped
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
FOR THE BASIL VINAIGRETTE:
¼ cup Chicken Stock (see here)
1 tablespoon wine vinegar, or to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 scallion, trimmed
1 to 2 anchovy fillets, rinsed, and blotted dry (optional)
1 tablespoon capers, drained
16 basil leaves
1. Preheat the grill or broiler to high. Wash and dry the chicken breasts and trim off any fat and sinews. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and thickly sprinkle with cracked peppercorns and salt. Grill the breasts until cooked, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken breasts to a cutting board and thinly slice widthwise across the grain. If using cooked chicken, thinly slice or dice it.
2. Place the potatoes in a pot with cold water to cover and salt. Bring the potatoes to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Refresh the potatoes under cold water and drain. Cut any large potatoes in quarters or halves to have bite-size pieces. Snap the stems off the beans and cook them in rapidly boiling salted water until crispy-tender, about 2 minutes. Refresh under cold water and drain.
3. Fan the tomato slices out to cover the bottom edges of 4 large plates or a platter. Mound the mesclun at the top of the plate. Arrange bundles of haricots verts, clusters of potatoes, and piles of olives between the tomatoes and mesclun. Sprinkle the hard-cooked egg whites and sliced onion on top. Or use a different arrangement: The idea is to create a pretty, colorful salad.
4. Prepare the vinaigrette. Place the stock, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, scallion, anchovy fillets (if using), capers, and basil leaves in a blender and purée until smooth. Correct the seasoning, adding black pepper and salt to taste. (You probably won’t need salt if you use the anchovy.) Transfer the dressing to a bowl and serve on the side.
297 CALORIES PER SERVING; 27 G PROTEIN; 7 G FAT; 1 G SATURATED FAT; 36 G CARBOHYDRATE; 352 MG SODIUM; 55 MG CHOLESTEROL
Chicken Salad Niçoise with Big-Flavor Vinaigrette
CAPRI SHRIMP AND BEAN SALAD
Serves 4 to 6
Call me a sucker for street life, but my favorite part of Capri wasn’t the upper village, with its picture-perfect narrow streets and expensive boutiques. I preferred the hurly-burly of the docks in the lower village, where the ferries and fishing boats come in. I wandered in and out of trattorie, chatting with cooks (no one would be so pretentious as to call himself a chef here), sampling simple fare and supremely fresh seafood, including the following salad.
1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed with the side of a cleaver and peeled
½ teaspoon curry powder
¼ to ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
10 black olives
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, or to taste
lemon wedges for garnish
1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick frying pan over a medium flame. Add the garlic, curry powder, and pepper flakes and sizzle in the oil until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the shrimp and sauté until cooked (they’ll be firm and pink), 2 to 3 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool. Stir in the beans, olives, parsley, and vinegar. Correct the seasoning, adding salt or vinegar to taste; the salad should be highly seasoned. Transfer the salad to a shallow serving bowl or to plates, drizzle the remaining ½ tablespoon olive oil on top, and garnish with lemon wedges for serving.
275 CALORIES PER SERVING;* 28 G PROTEIN; 8 G FAT; 1 G SATURATED FAT; 24 G CARBOHYDRATE; 253 MG SODIUM; 175 MG CHOLESTEROL
TROPICAL CHICKEN SALAD WITH CREAMY CITRUS DRESSING
Serves 4
This salad is bursting with the tropical flavors of avocado, hearts of palm, and citrus fruits. The creamy vinaigrette dressing features reduced fruit juices and no-fat sour cream. If possible, use a Florida avocado, which contains about 30 percent less fat than a California Haas avocado. Florida avocados have a smooth, light green skin and are larger and sweeter than their Californian counterparts.
FOR THE DRESSING:
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
⅔ cup no-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 to 3 cups diced cooked chicken (without skin)
1 ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½-inch dice
1 can hearts of palm, drained and cut into ½-inch slices
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
4 ripe oranges
6 to 8 Boston lettuce leaves, washed
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley
1. Prepare the dressing. Combine the orange, lemon, and lime juices in a saucepan and boil until reduced to ¼ cup. Let this mixture cool completely, then whisk in the sour cream, olive oil and honey (if using), and salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. The dressing should be highly seasoned.
2. Cut the chicken into ½-inch dice. Place the chicken, avocado, hearts of palm, and scallions in a mixing bowl and gently toss with the lime juice.
3. Cut the rind and pith (the white part) off the oranges. Thinly slice each orange widthwise. Line 4 large salad plates or a platter with lettuce leaves and arrange the orange slices on top. Mound the chicken mixture in the center. Pour most of the dressing over the chicken mixture, drizzling the remainder over the oranges. Sprinkle the salads with cilantro and serve.
291 CALORIES PER SERVING; 25 G PROTEIN; 10 G FAT; 2 G SATURATED FAT; 27 G CARBOHYDRATE; 159 MG SODIUM; 54 MG CHOLESTEROL
VIETNAMESE CHICKEN SALAD
Serves 4
I first tasted this salad in San Francisco’s Chinatown at a noodle emporium called Golden Flower. The explosive flavors perform an intricate ballet on the palate. To simplify the recipe, use cooked chicken. (You’ll need about 1½ cups thinly sliced cooked chicken.)
FOR THE DRESSING/MARINADE:
⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
⅓ cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 to 3 teaspoons Vietnamese, Thai, or other hot sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts, washed, dried, and trimmed of any fat
⅓ head iceberg lettuce, cored
⅓ head nappa or green cabbage, cored
¼ sweet onion, such as Vidalia, Walla Walla, or Maui
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 carrots, finely julienned
1 bunch Thai or regular basil, washed and stemmed (reserve 4 whole sprigs for garnish)
1 to 4 jalapeño or other hot chilies, cut widthwise into paper-thin slices
2 tablespoons finely chopped dry roasted peanuts
1. Combine the ingredients for the dressing/marinade in a mixing bowl and whisk until the honey is dissolved. Transfer one-third of the mixture to a shallow bowl with the chicken breasts. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for 20 minutes, turning once or twice, while you prepare the remaining ingredients for the salad. Preheat a barbecue grill or broiler.
2. Slice the iceberg lettuce widthwise as thinly as possible. Do the same with the nappa and onion. Blanket 4 salad plates with the sliced lettuce. Mound the sliced cabbage on top. Then arrange neat layers of sliced onion, celery, carrots, and basil leaves.
3. Grill the chicken breasts over high heat until cooked, about 2 minutes per side. Thinly slice the chicken breasts across the grain. Fan the chicken slices out on top of the salads. Sprinkle the salads with the sliced chilies and chopped peanuts. Spoon the remaining dressing over the salads and let stand for 3 to 5 minutes before serving.
230 CALORIES PER SERVING; 21 G PROTEIN; 5 G FAT; 1 G SATURATED FAT; 28 G CARBOHYDRATE; 354 MG SODIUM; 47 MG CHOLESTEROL
SICHUAN CHICKEN SALAD
Serves 6 as an appetizer, 3 to 4 as a main course
The beguiling play of textures and flavors has endeared this salad to cooks around the world. Also known as “peng peng” or “bon bon” chicken, the dish makes an intriguing appetizer, not to mention a refreshing summer entrée. Bean threads are slender white noodles made from mung bean starch. They’re usually sold in 1-ounce packages bundled in netlike bags. Look for them at Asian markets and in the Chinese foods section of most supermarkets. You can also use 2 ounces rice noodles or 6 to 8 ounces soba (buckwheat noodles) or spaghetti.
2 cups cooked chicken
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil, plus 1 teaspoon for the bean threads
FOR THE SPICY SESAME SAUCE:
¼ sesame seeds
3 scallions, white part minced, green part finely chopped for garnish
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey or sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese chili paste (or your favorite hot sauce), or to taste
⅓ cup Chicken Stock (see here), or as needed
2 one-ounce packages of bean threads
2 large cucumbers
1. Cut or tear the chicken into matchstick slivers. Transfer to a mixing bowl and toss with the soy sauce and sesame oil.
2. Prepare the sauce. Roast the sesame seeds until a light golden brown in a dry skillet over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer half the sesame seeds to the bowl of a food processor. Set the remainder aside for garnish. Add the white part of the scallions, the garlic, ginger, peanut butter, tamari, vinegar, honey, and chili paste to the processor and purée until smooth. Add enough stock to thin the mixture to a thick but pourable sauce. Correct the seasoning, adding soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, or chili paste to taste. The sauce should be highly seasoned.
3. Meanwhile, soak the bean threads in warm water to cover in a mixing bowl for 10 minutes. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan. Drain the bean threads and cook in the boiling water until tender but not soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain the bean threads in a colander, rinse well with cold water, and drain again. Transfer the bean threads to a mixing bowl and toss with the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Peel the cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds with a melon baller or spoon. Thinly slice the cucumber halves widthwise.
4. Assemble the salad. Mound the bean threads in a large bowl or on a platter. Arrange the cucumber slices in a circle around the bean threads, overlapping slightly. Mound the chicken in the center of the bean threads. Spoon the sauce over the chicken in the center. Sprinkle the salad with the reserved sesame seeds and scallion greens.
229 CALORIES PER SERVING;* 20 G PROTEIN; 10 G FAT; 2 G SATURATED FAT; 16 G CARBOHYDRATE; 759 MG SODIUM; 36 MG CHOLESTEROL