Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Chicken Salad with Maple Dressing

Picture a chilly, dreary, rainy Monday; the first day back to school for the homegirlz and the first day back to work for their mother after the Christmas holidays. Mom arrives home from work, the house is dark and strangely quiet, both girls are sound asleep.
This was the scenario yesterday at our house. I tried to wake the girls but I could not stir them. I've been a little under the weather since New Years Eve, and really did not feel like cooking. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and prepare one of my favorite salads.

This is a simple combination of iceberg and romaine lettuce, sliced red onion, sliced fontina cheese strips (oh how I love the nutty taste of this cheese), some of Gigi's pecans that I toasted on the stove and some leftover boneless, skinless chicken from the fridge. But this isn't all...

What REALLY makes this salad feel so warm and cozy is the salad dressing. It goes so well with the toasted pecans and the nutty fontina cheese. Warm over low heat about 1/4 cup of real maple syrup on the stove. Pour the warm syrup into a measure cup and add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and whisk in some extra virgin olive oil to taste. Now pour this delectable dressing over your salad and enjoy with a glass of wine.
You'll sleep really well, I promise!

15 comments:

gigi said...

Now that seems right up my ally! I love the combination of your ingredients, especially pecans :) Harry had a bag full last night just snacking away. As Shelby says, it's a "healthy snack" Hope today everyone is more in the swing of things. Our girls don't go to school until Weds.

SusanD said...

YUM! That sounds absolutely marvelous. I have everything but the cheese. I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for sharing. Blessings, Susan

Marjie said...

Sweet dressing with just a touch of bite from the vinegar poured over the chicken sounds perfect!

Pam said...

I've never had maple dressing before - it sounds delicious.

Maria said...

Maple dressing? What a great way to top this salad off!

Debbie said...

The maple dressingf sounds delicious. My youngest went back to school yesterday and was not happy about that at all!

Greg C said...

That sounds interesting. I was looking for something different in the way of salads. I may try this one.

pam said...

What a great salad! It's all cold and rainy here too. We got something like 4 inches today!

NKP said...

Oh, that looks so wonderful!
As a Canadian, I am happy you are using real maple syrup.
So many times you see a recipe online that calls for maple syrup and the picture will show a bottle of cheap table syrup - which, of course, bears no resemblance.
What a warm and satisfying salad, I would love to try it one day.

vanillasugarblog said...

Mmmm maple dressing! I love that and would just love using it on a sandwich as well. Clever!

April said...

ooohhh, this looks fantastic! A great way to kick off the new year!

Reeni said...

The dressing just brings it all together! I'll definitely be trying that one. My mouth is watering, yummy. Hope you are all doing better, and getting back in the swing of things.

La Bella Cooks said...

The dressing sounds wonderful. I never would have thought of that before but this makes for a fantastic meal. Looks wonderful. I hope you are feeling better soon.

The Blonde Duck said...

That sounds wonderful. And I actually have apple cider vinegar in the fridge! Hooray!

Tiffany said...

Oh my gosh that sounds so good right now! I think that I will be making this for dinner.