Leave it to my friends at Cooking Light Magazine to take the ubiquitous chicken caesar salad and turn it on it's head. This delicious twist on the restaurant staple is a breeze to get on the table and relatively healthy due to a re-working of the traditional caesar dressing to make is so much healthier than the standard mayonnaise based ones that abound.
I really like the way they turned the tables on this dish by making the chicken the star and the "salad" or slaw the accompaniment. Too often when eating a traditional chicken caesar salad I find myself foraging through the greens to find lonely little pieces of chicken, here it is much easier to ensure that each bite offers a nice balance of salad and bird.
The dressing is a wonderful concoction bright with lemon and pungent with garlic, mustard, and anchovy. Made with reduced-fat plain greek yogurt, it is a caesar dressing you can use liberally without waist-line worries….phew! Cut the romaine in fine ribbons for more of a "slaw" presentation, or tear it into larger pieces to have it feel more like a salad. While the recipe doesn't call for croutons, I had some homemade pumpernickel croutons handy (delicious!), but any old kind will add a welcomed crunch to this dish.
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 4 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- 4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (use boneless, skinless thighs if you prefer)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ounce parmesan cheese, shaved for garnish
Instructions
- Combine first 9 ingredients and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl, add lettuce and toss to coat.
- Place the chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper and salt.
- Heat a grill pan over high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes. Flip and cook for 2 minutes, remove from pan. Place 1 chicken breast on each of 4 plates; top each with 1 cup slaw. Sprinkle evenly with the shaved parmesan.