Warm Escarole Salad with Smoked Chicken
This can serve as a basic model for warm salad: some greens on the bitter side, a small amount of flavorful meat or poultry, a splash of vinegar and some warm oil, and perhaps some other vegetables or nuts.
Mon, Jan 18 2010 at 10:22 AM EST
Warm Escarole Salad with Smoked Chicken
Ingredients
- Scant cup smoked chicken meat, with or without skin
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup julienned red or yellow onion
- 1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced (optional)
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 small head escarole or curly endive, torn, washed and spun dry (about 4 cups torn greens)
Time Estimates
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Preparation
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Cut the chicken into bite-size strips, removing the skin or leaving it on as you prefer.
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Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet and cook the onions and peppers until tender.
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Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, salt and pepper in a stainless steel or other heatproof bowl, and stir with your fingertips to dissolve the salt.
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Add the greens and toss with the seasoned vinegar.
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When the onions and peppers are ready, add the chicken to the pan just to heat it through, then pour the contents of the skillet over the greens; use a handful of greens to swab out the last of the oil in the skillet.
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Toss quickly, then arrange the greens on plates, topping with the other ingredients.
Yield
Serves 4-6
Note
If your greens are on the tough side, as escarole and larger curly endive can be, you can cook them for a few seconds in the pan rather than simply wilting them with the hot oil. Use an extra-large skillet, wok or stir-fry pan to provide enough room to toss the greens in the hot dressing.
Variations
The warm salad theme lends itself to endless variations. Here are a few:
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Substitute arugula for some or all of the greens, or use a braising mix (prewashed small greens that look superficially similar to a mesclun-style salad mix but are heavier on the sturdy and bitter varieties).
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Scrape most of the fat off 1 or 2 legs of chicken or duck confit and reheat the confit in a steamer or double boiler. Use a little less oil for sautéing the onions and peppers, and add the fatty drippings from the reheated confit to the skillet along with the sliced meat.
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Cook sliced pancetta, bacon, or your favorite sausage first in the skillet (fully cooked sausages just need to be reheated and browned slightly); then either use the drippings from the meat or discard them and replace them with olive oil.
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Omit the red pepper and garnish the salad with pomegranate seeds or bits of tart dried fruit like cranberries, cherries or apricots, plumped in a little warm water if they are too dry to enjoy on their own.
Which beer should I drink with this?
Pale ale or amber ale
Also from The Microbrew Lover's Cookbook:
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The Microbrew Lover’s Cookbook From The Microbrew Lover’s Cookbook, Copyright © 2002 by Jay Harlow. Used by arrangement with Jay Harlow.
Photo: Wickenden/Flickr
