Bling-Up Your Dinner and Keep your Kitchen Cool with this Beautiful Chicken Salad.

Let's just put it out there. It is too hot to cook, and almost too hot to eat! (Well, that last part isn't true....but raising your fork to your mouth when our Southern weather is about as sticky and nasty as it gets can be a chore.)

You're using electricity faster than a 3 year old eats Cheerios, and three showers a day is the norm. There's only one solution: SALAD FOR DINNER!

But here's the rub....How do you get inventive, and stay healthy, as well as entertain beautifully, when your apron strings are doing their best to keep perspiration from gently dripping off your glowing brow? My solution is go BIG on flavor, use fruit, and let herbs be the star.

If you can push the button on your food processor, blanch a vegetable, and otherwise saute some cute little chunks of chicken, you're nearly all the way there. Actually, if you want to buy pre-cooked chicken strips, that would work JUST AS WELL! The point is you can present a meal with flavor, substance and nutrition.

There. You just created your own cool version of #blingcuisine. Now where is the nearest swimming pool???

---

RECIPE: Parsley Rosemary Pesto Chicken and Raspberry Salad
​with Blanched Vegetables

Serves 4 / Click here for printable version.

• Ingredients
• Method
• Wine Pairing

<

>

​16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch chunks
½ C toasted salted almonds, rough chopped
3 regular sized yellow potatoes, cubed
2 small-regular yellow squash
20 sprigs of thin asparagus
3-4 C spring greens
½ pint fresh raspberries
1 small clove garlic
2 T salted butter
6 +/- T olive oil divided
3 T rice wine vinegar
2 t kosher salt
¼ t black cracked pepper
Extra salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ C flat leaf parsley, leaves only
1 T fresh rosemary
1/3 C buttermilk
1 T honey

With a large blade vegetable peeler, cut the yellow squash into long strips. You should have about 3 cups worth, loosely packed. Cover it with ice water and let sit for no more than 2 hours if needing to prep early, or add to spring green right away. (see below). Rinse the asparagus and cut off the hard ends, leaving the sprigs a nice length for placing across the salad. Put them in a large saucepan with about 1/3 C water. Bring to simmer and cook for about 2 minutes, until asparagus are slightly softened. Don’t overcook! Remove and shock in ice water. Remove, blot dry and set aside. Cube the unpeeled potatoes and boil until very soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and shock potatoes in ice water as well.
 
In a small food chopper add the parsley, rosemary, garlic and some kosher salt and pepper and about 2 T olive oil and process until almost pureed. You might need a bit more olive oil to achieve a smooth result…add in increments of 2 t and process and check again. Remove and place in a bowl and add the buttermilk and honey. Stir to combine. Set aside.
 
Heat 2 T oil and the butter in a large sauce pan and cook the chicken on medium high until browned and cooked, only about 5 minutes. Season with a bit of the salt and pepper. Don’t overcook or it will be tough. When cooked, drain and set aside. When the chicken has cooled for about 15 minutes add it to the bowl with the buttermilk pesto mixture and toss well. Let it sit for about 20-30 minutes, tossing often. The chicken will absorb all the flavors!
 
Now, drain and blot dry the potatoes and yellow squash. Toss the spring greens with the squash and potatoes and 2 T of the olive oil and the rice wine vinegar and a bit of salt and pepper. Toss well to coat. To plate place a serving of the spring green veggie mixture on the plate. Place 5 springs of asparagus grouped together on top of that. Add 4 ounces of the pesto coated chicken on top. Then add the fresh raspberries. Top with the chopped almonds and some coarse kosher salt and serve.

Serve with a bright Washington Riesling, or Viognier, or a New Zealand grassy Sauvignon Blanc.