Curried Chicken Breast Salad

Curried Chicken Breast Salad

Chicken breast is not really my thing, but Ann really likes it a lot. Because of this, recently, rather than buying just thighs, I've taken to buying a whole chicken each week to ten days and using it for at least three meals. I'll start by using the breasts for a dish, then poach the carcass. I'll then pick the meat from the carcass and use it for one dish (such as chicken tinga or chicken and black bean tacos) while the stock contributes to a soup of some sort. 

Ann really likes chicken breast on salad, so I made this one for her, a super quick and easy meal if ever there were one. I start by taking the breasts off the chicken and while they cook over medium heat in a skillet, I assemble the salad.

For this particular salad, I coated the slightly flattened chicken breasts in Madras curry powder. For Indian dishes, I always put together specific masalas from individual spices just for the dish. But for American dishes, I like the convenience of a decent pre-mixed curry powder. After the spice-rubbed breasts sat for a few minutes, I filmed a large skillet with the barest amount of oil and cooked them slowly over moderate heat until just done. These big breasts (off a 5-pound bird) took every bit of ten minutes to cook, with a turn about seven minutes in. The moderate heat keeps my smoke detector from going off and keeps the breasts moist.

I made a quick dressing of a spoonful of unflavored yogurt, a squeeze of agave nectar, a dribble of rice vinegar, a pinch of salt, and a half a teaspoon of curry powder. After mixing it well, I thinned it with water to the consistency I wanted and rechecked the seasonings.

This salad is a mix of whatever greens I had on hand (spinach, arugula, and romaine, I think), diced Granny Smith apple, Marcona almonds, and golden raisins (only in my salad; Ann doesn't do raisins). Good, easy, relatively low fat, low carb, and plenty of fiber. Hard to beat a dish like this for a quick weeknight dinner.

I feel quite fortunate that our local grocery sells bulk Marcona almonds at about $15 per pound. I can get a quarter cup for about a dollar or so and not have to commit serious coin to buy this extravagance. If you've never had Marconas, the Cadillacs of almonds, you should give them a try. But don't blame me if you don't ever want to eat any other kind of almond again.