Asian Chicken Salad

Connie and I had the best lunch recently.  About 11:45 I headed for the kitchen in the office knowing that I had a conference call at noon.  I'd toasted the sesame seeds and the almonds at home.  The chicken was shredded.  And, I'd bought slaw mix so the cabbage and carrots were done.  The dressing was made at O'Dark Thirty that morning at home.  So, that left chopping up the red bell pepper and assembling the salads.  A handful of spring greens into the bowls topped with the chicken salad then a sprinkle of rice noodles and we were ready to go.  I used up about 2/3 of the salad.  As I ran into my office for the call, I asked Connie to please put the rest of the salad in a refrigerator container.  When I got done with the call, there was Connie with an empty bowl.  The rest of the salad was in his belly and he had a smile on his face. 

So, you can tell what we thought about this recipe from Giada's most recent cookbook:  Weeknights With Giada.  YUM.  This was fresh and light and perfectly balanced.  The flavors just totally dance on your tongue.  I love the fact that it's loaded with vegetables.  With a rotisserie chicken and a bag of slaw mix, this is also a cinch to put together.  This is a salad we'll make regularly!  Actually, as I'm typing this I know that in the groceries we bought this evening there's a bag of slaw mix and another red bell pepper...  Oh, and we doubled the dressing - but the recipe below reflects the quantity in the original recipe.

Asian Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
spring greens
one bag slaw mix
1 red bell pepper, diced
2-3 T fresh basil, chopped
2 c shredded chicken (we used a rotisserie chicken)
1/2 c slivered or sliced almonds, toasted
1 T white or black sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 vegetable or olive oil
2 T low sodium soy sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
1/2 t sugar
salt and pepper
chow mein or rice noodles (we used rice noodles)

Directions:

Toss the chicken, slaw mix, basil, red bell pepper, almonds and sesame seeds together.  In a small bowl combine the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper.  Toss the dressing with the salad.  In each bowl, put a handful of spring greens.  Top that with chicken salad, then sprinkle with the rice noodles. 

adapted from Weeknights with Giada