Grilled Chicken Salad
Barbecue leftovers are a blessing! They make easy appetizers or spicy fingerfood for the day after. And the cannibalized body of that barbecue smoked chicken is the start of a beautiful grilled chicken salad.
This barbecue chicken salad can be served as a stand alone lunch salad, along with some toast or French bread. The quantities mentioned in this smoked chicken salad recipe should be sufficient to create a great lunch for 3 to 4 persons.
Ingredients
For this left over barbecue pulled chicken salad we use the following ingredients:
| min. 1/2 pound |
| 1 |
| 10 dry ounces |
| 10 dry ounces |
| 1/2 pound |
| 1/2 cup
|
| 1 |
| 1 |
| smoked chicken leftovers, pulled to shreds |
| cucumber, diced |
| crispy corn (medium size can, drained) |
| Pinto beans (medium size can, drained) |
| tomato, diced |
| mint leaves, prefereably the sturdier ("Turkish"?) kind, shredded |
| onion, finely chopped |
| red chile, chopped |
Standard Salad Dressing
This is our standard dressing that we use for just about all salads:
| 5 tablespoons |
| 2 tablespoons |
| 1 teaspoon |
| 1/4 teaspoon |
| olive oil (prefereably a fruity Extra Virgine) |
| vinegar |
| black peppercorns, ground medium coarse |
| seasalt, no iodine |
Herbs
For this chicken salad, Juancho adds a combination of herbs to reinforce the above Standard Salad Dressing. These herbs are picked fresh in Juancho's little Herb Garden. Through the year quantities may vary depending on season and actual availability in the garden.
If there's any herb on the list that you can't get, don't worry. This kind of salad recipe is begging for improvisation.
Immediately after chopping, the herbs are stirred into the mix of olive oil and vinegar, so you will achieve a maximum transfer of aroma and flavour into the dressing.
These are the herbs I used for the salad in the picture:
| 2 tablespoons |
| 1 tablespoon |
| 1 tablespoon |
| 5 cloves |
| rosemary, finely chopped |
| tarragon, finely chopped |
| sage, chopped |
| garlic, finely chopped |
Preparation
- |
Open can of corn, allow to drain. |
- |
Open can of beans, drain, rinse under cold running water, allow to drain. |
- |
Make the dressing with the fresh herbs. Mix thoroughly (shake vigorously if possible) and set aside to allow the aromas of the herbs to be absorbed by the dressing. |
- |
Pull chicken to shreds. |
- |
Wash the cucumber, cut in quarters lengthwise, cut out the seedy parts, cut the four strips lengthwise again to obtain eight strips, cut strips into dice. |
- |
Wash the tomatoes, cut in quarters, cut out seedy parts, and cut quarters into dice. |
- |
Wash mint leaves while on the stem and set apart. Mint is quite vulnerable, therefore you do not want to rip and cut the leaves until just before serving. |
- |
Chop the onion as fine as possible. |
- |
Wash chile pepper, remove seeds, chop to pieces. |
- |
Put pulled chicken and vegetables in a large salad bowl and mix well. |
Above activities can be done well before serving, as long as you store the salad in the refrigerator to avoid trouble with the chicken.
Right before serving:
- |
Rip the mint leaves from the stems, chop, and add to salad. |
- |
Stir dressing one last time, add to salad, and mix salad to spread dressing evenly. |
Attack!
The PitMaster Suggests
This pulled chicken salad goes very well with toasted bread or French bread. It also combines very well with barbecue fries.
Blue Smoke Barbecue Fries
Once you have tried these smoke-grilled potatoes, you won't be able to resist making them every time you see some spare space on the grate...
CLICK HERE FOR MORE Hot Smoke BBQ SALAD RECIPES !
