One day I needed to whip something up quickly, using only what I had in my fridge and pantry. Fortunately, it turns out I actually had a lot of good stuff. So, it wasn’t too hard to put together a light, delicious recipe…

Anton's Warm Chicken Salad, being heartily enjoyed

I expect that any sort of “Warm Chicken Salad” is something in which you can easily exchange various ingredients to suit your taste. This recipe includes some key ingredients that I like, to make a basic “sauce” that you could probably put over any sort of salad, rice, or pasta.

Note that I really enjoy balsamic vinegar. You may prefer to cook with a little light wine instead, and use a dash of a simple salad dressing over the dish (if any at all).

Ingredients

• 1 x Large Onion, chopped
• 2 x Rashers Middle Bacon, chopped
• 12 x Cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 x Cos lettuce, cut into fat ribbons
• ¾ of a red capsicum, cut into fine strips
• 6 x Large button mushrooms, finely diced
• 170g Semi-dried tomatoes in their own oil
• 2 blocks, Danish fetta, cubed
• 2 x Chicken breasts, diced
• 1 tsp Chicken stock
• 1 tsp Paprika
• ½ tsp Chilli flakes
• 3 tbsp pizza sauce
• 2 slices of a good, thick white bread – toasted, buttered, then dried in the oven (75°C) until crunchy and cut into croutons
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Shaved parmesan cheese

Method

1. Brown onion in 1bsp oil, then the bacon.
2. Lower the heat & add capsicum, chicken stock, paprika, chilli flakes, and half the mushroom.
3. Simmer until capsicum is soft, then sear, then put this mix aside.
4. Remove any burnt muck from the pan, add more oil, and lightly cook semi-dried tomatoes (with their oil) and half the fetta on medium heat. Add chicken, and a few bursts of balsamic to the uncooked side of the chicken.
5. Cook for a while, stirring occasionally, until it starts to thicken. Start adding a little more balsamic when the chicken is mostly cooked.
6. Add pizza sauce and the earlier capsicum mix, cook a short while longer until all well-mixed.
7. Turn off heat, add croutons, stir up.
8. Combine and toss lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and remaining raw mushroom and fetta. Dress with more balsamic, and a touch of oil, salt, and pepper to taste.
9. Top the salad with the cooked mixture, and parmesan cheese.

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