The complete salad

We had enough leftover mac and cheese for lunch today but leftovers are hardly exciting unless recycled into a new dish or unless paired with something else. Unlike yesterday, I had a lot of options this time. I had just been to the supermarket and I was armed to the teeth with meats, seafood, cheeses and vegetables.

Salad with cold chicken, cheese and walnuts

A salad would go nicely with the mac and cheese. By “salad”, I don’t mean those token servings of tasteless vegetables. I like my salad to be filling. And exciting. And tasty. No hospital food stuff. And no tasteless diet stuff either. I like salads with everything in it.

What do I consider a complete salad? Well, it has to have vegetables. Lettuce is always a good base, tomatoes add color and texture, finely sliced onions give the salad a kick. But that’s not enough. I took the cold leftover lechon manok (roasted chicken) from the fridge and chopped the still substantial amount of breast meat. I took some cheese and cut them into slices. Then, I cut 4 slices of bread into one-inch cubes, tossed them in a baking tray, drizzled a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil over them, and popped them in the hot oven for five minutes (the oven was already hot because I reheated the mac and cheese).

While waiting for the croutons to crisp and brown, I made the dressing. In a bowl, I mixed half a cup of mayonnaise with 2 tablespoonfuls of fresh lemon juice (from about half of a lemon) and 3 tablespoonfuls of honey.

Then, I assembled the salad. I tore the lettuce leaves into thirds and laid them on a plate. I scattered the tomato wedges over the lettuce then added the cold chicken, half an onion (thinly sliced), half a cup of roughly chopped walnuts, cheese strips and croutons. Then, I drizzled the dressing over everything and served lunch. Delicious, no kidding. Probably would have been even better if I hadn’t forgotten to add freshly ground black pepper just before serving.

August 5, 2008  Print This Post   
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Comments

7 Responses to “The complete salad”
  1. soloops says:
    August 5, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    Remember Jeff Bridges’ observation that Barbra Streisand’s character in The Mirror Has Two Faces that she would load her fork with all the salad ingredients, then make that pefect bite?

    Well, right now, I am imagining myself digging into your perfect salad and making that perfect bite.

    Reply
  2. noes says:
    August 5, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    i like your salad than those green salads.

    Reply
  3. Connie says:
    August 5, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    Soloops, you know, the salad was so filling that I didn’t feel there was any need for an afternoon merienda. How many salads can make you feel full until dinnertime, eh? And with so little meat too.

    Noes, actually, I hate all-vegetable salad hehehe I guess I’ll never be a vegan.

    Reply
  4. mella says:
    August 6, 2008 at 6:33 am

    Hi Ms. Connie,

    Thanks for all your great recipes!
    I have been an avid fan site for 3 years now.

    One question though, your ’search by category’ seems to be not working. Is it just my browser?

    Reply
  5. Connie says:
    August 6, 2008 at 7:19 am

    There seems to be some incompatibility with the latest version of Wordpress. Will find out if there’s a new way to execute the dropdown menu.

    Reply
  6. mary joy says:
    August 6, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    I thought I am the only one having problem viewing recipes through “search by category”.

    Thanks, Ms. Connie for the great recipes…

    Reply
  7. june says:
    August 24, 2008 at 6:48 pm

    your salad looks do good…i would love to try it…thanks for sharing it …

    Reply
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