Chicken and Grana Padano salad
An easy chicken salad is pepped up with slivers of Grana Padano cheese in this Mediterranean-inspired recipe.
- Fresh and flavour-packed: this is a light salad with a beautifully bronzed chicken breast sliced over a bed of rocket, with avocado and tomatoes in a tangy balsamic dressing. Little matchsticks of Grana Padano garnish the dish, adding rich savoury nuttiness throughout.
- Why Grana Padano: this special cheese doesn’t just add heaps of savoury, fruity flavour to this recipe – it’s high in protein and amino acids, free from lactose and gluten, and packed with calcium. It’s got a lot going for it beyond flavour and texture!
- Quick and easy: the dish can be ready in just 30 minutes and can also be prepared using an air fryer (see Before you start).
Try this caponata cod with Grana Padano pangrattato next.
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Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, ideally skin-on
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 40g Grana Padano, finely grated
For the salad
- ¼ red onion, finely sliced
- Bowl iced water
- 60g rocket leaves
- 80g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 40g Grana Padano, cut into matchsticks
- 2 basil sprigs, leaves picked
For the dressing
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp dijon or wholegrain mustard
- ½ tsp clear honey
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Method
- Heat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/gas 4. For the salad, put the finely sliced red onion in the bowl of iced water to crisp up (see Cook Smarter).
- Meanwhile, season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken skin-side down and cook for about 7–8 minutes until the skin is golden and crisp. Flip over, sprinkle the finely grated Grana Padano over the skin of both breasts, then put the pan in the oven (if your frying pan isn’t ovenproof, transfer to a tray first) and cook for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts (the chicken should be at least 65ºC in the centre of the thickest part and not pink at all if you make a small cut with a knife). Remove the chicken from the oven when cooked, then leave to rest for 5 minutes before carving.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Once the chicken has rested, slice the breasts into strips. Put the rocket leaves in a bowl, add a little dressing, then toss. Divide the leaves between 2 plates, then top with the carved chicken. Dress the onion, tomatoes and avocado separately in the bowl and arrange in groups around the chicken. Top with matchsticks of Grana Padano and fresh basil leaves.
Nutrition
- 671kcals Calories
- 45g (13g saturated) Fat
- 55g Protein
- 9.3g (7.4g sugars) Carbs
- 3.6g Fibre
- 1.1g Salt
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