Spring Green Salad with Poached Chicken & Buttermilk Dressing

photo by Caroline Wright

From Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals

By Caroline Wright

This simple salad makes elegant use of the abundant radishes, new lettuces and herbs of the season. The recipe is shared here courtesy of food writer and cook Caroline Wright, a recent transplant to Dallas from Brooklyn. Her new cookbook Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals offers fast and inexpensive meals using seasonal ingredients.

Serves 4

½ medium baguette
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 ounces each)
1 lemon, sliced
2 sprigs of rosemary
Small bunch of fresh thyme
12 cups salad greens
1 cup halved radishes

For Dressing

¾ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
3 scallions (only white parts, reserve greens for salad)
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Tear baguette into pieces (roughly ¾” wide) and toss on a large rimmed baking sheet with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake, tossing once, until the croutons are golden and crisp, about 10 minutes.

Simmer chicken breasts in a medium skillet over medium-low heat with lemon, rosemary, thyme and enough water to barely cover, until the chicken is opaque throughout and just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let the chicken cool on a cutting board, about 8 minutes, and shred.

While the chicken cools, rinse and drain salad greens and radishes and make dressing. In a small bowl stir together buttermilk, sour cream, thyme leaves, vinegar and whites of scallions (set aside the green parts). Season generously with salt and pepper.

In a large serving bowl, toss the shredded chicken with salad greens, scallion greens, radishes and croutons. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Excerpted from Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals, Copyright 2013 by Caroline Wright used by permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. New York, All Rights Reserved

Caroline Wright

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Caroline Wright is a food writer and cook, a recent transplant to Dallas from Brooklyn. Her new cookbook TWENTY-DOLLAR, TWENTY-MINUTE MEALS offers fast and inexpensive meals using seasonal ingredients.

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