Baby Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, Sicilian Olives, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, and Bocconcini

Spring is almost here. Farmer’s markets are teaming with produce that is like a middle step-child.

“Notice me! Please!”

There are heirloom cherry tomatoes. Some canary-yellow, coffee-brown, or burgundy, with their Hunchback of Notre Dame shapes that deserve every bit of attention they cry for. When you pop one into your mouth and taste the silky vine still on it, you should cry that they are ignored.

Perhaps you know of the Kalamata olive’s cousin, the Sicilian olive? They are packed in jars in the beginning of December, before they are fully ripe. They are set to soak and hibernate for the winter. They are not the same old drab purple or black that you are used to. You can even see some reddish spots dispersed through the olive green, and they punch your mouth with their salinity and tartness that add a new dimension to a boring old spring salad.

Yes, the arrival of fresh produce demands that you leave the clunky salad dressings like a wallflower at a high school dance. The king and queen of this prom are the heady, fruity extra-virgin olive oil, (only the best kind,) and the voluptuous white wine vinegar. Put anything else on this salad, and you might as well choke her with the prom dress.

Who said you have to eat a lot of carbohydrates to eat Italian? Use the great produce that we have available for us at this time of year. Don’t skimp on the tomatoes or the olives. They are what make this dish extra special.

Baby Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, Sicilian Olives, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, and Bocconcini

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 40 grams baby spinach
• 10 Sicilian olives
• 3 Heirloom cherry tomatoes, split into half
• 1 ball Bocconcini cheese, torn
• 100 grams chicken breast, grilled
• 50 grams cucumber, julienned
• To taste kosher salt
• To taste 5 pepper blend, freshly ground
• 30 mL good extra-virgin olive oil
• 15 mL good white wine vinegar

Method:

1. Arrange baby spinach, olives, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Bocconcini, chicken breast, and cucumber in an attractive fashion in a large salad bowl.
2. Season the salad with the salt and the pepper.
3. Dress with the olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Net Carbs: 9.42 grams

1. Toss and serve/eat immediately.

Tagged as: cherry, heirloom, olive, salad, Sicilian, spring, tomato