Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Jess and I just finished watching one of our guilty pleasures-- a Mormon movie. Yes, us two Christian girls love our Mormon movies. I'm not sure if it's the cheesiness or the bad acting that does it, but we just can't get enough of them. And I'm not joking here. It all started when one of my youth group girls told me last year that I had to see Pride & Prejudice, the Pink Bible version. Jess and I sat down to what we thought was going to be a good modern-day adaptation of our beloved story. Little did we know what we were in for. Of course we fell in love with the absolute awfulness of Mormon movies and have been Netflixing them ever since. If you've never seen one, you should start with Baptists At Our Barbeque. It shows that Christians and Mormons can all get along. Wow, really?

We had this salad for dinner while we were watching Picadilly Cowboy. My only real problem with this movie is that the guy from Montana had a Southern accent. And a bad one at that. This salad made it worth it though. It is really healthy and full of flavor. It featured my beloved combo of lime & cilantro. You can be sure that you'll be seeing more recipes with them in it.


I cooked 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts at 350 for approx. 25 minutes and let it cool. I then just shredded it with my hands.


The most time consuming part of it was the chopping of all the veggies. It is very easy to put together, but it isn't quick with all the prep that goes into it.


My notes:

• I made the salsa first so that the flavor could develop as it sat.
• I used a small can of mild green chilies instead of the pickled jalapenos because I have never been fond of jalapenos.
• I would probably add some corn to the salsa next time to add some additional nutrients and variety of flavor.
• I used fat free sour cream for the dressing to make it healthier.
• I also put the garlic through a garlic press before putting it in the blender because I wanted to make sure there were no big chunks.
• I don't enjoy jicama much, so I subsituted a red bell pepper instead.
  
• Served with a side of organic blue corn chips.
  

Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from Nigella Express, by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients

For the dressing:
1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
A good grinding of black pepper

For the salad:
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 pound jicama, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch matchsticks (or 2 eight-ounce cans water chestnuts sliced into strips)
2 scallions, finely shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
3 cups shredded romaine lettuce

Procedure

1. Spoon the flesh out of the avocado; put flesh into blender with all other dressing ingredients. Process dressing till smooth.

2. Place all the salad ingredients into a large bowl, pour dressing over and toss to coat.

Tomato and Black Bean Salsa

- serves 4 to 6 as part of salad above -
Adapted from Nigella Express, by Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients

1 fifteen-ounce can black beans
2 tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
1/3 cup roughly chopped pickled jalapeños
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Drain and rinse the beans; mix beans in a bowl with the tomatoes, jalapeños, lime juice, and salt.

2. Check seasoning, then serve with the salad above, either separately in a small bowl or on top of the salad itself.