Marinated chicken salad with mango, goat cheese and walnuts

Does anyone else here live on salads during the summer? And anyone else who by the end of July already runs out of new ideas and ends up eating the same thing all the time? I admit that having a varied repertoire that pleases the whole family isn’t always easy, so I try different salads and the ones that are most liked at home I save to share with you. And, what can I tell you, this marinated chicken salad with mango, goat cheese and walnuts has been a big hit!!

We’re also going to take the opportunity to make our own marinated chicken, in this case breast, and I’m sure you’ll make this salad a regular dish at home, because it’s delicious, takes no time to prepare and solves more than one meal on days when you don’t feel like cooking much, whether to make this salad, or to prepare some toasts with good bread and roasted peppers, for example.

In this recipe I indicate the quantities to prepare the breast needed for this salad, approximately, but as I already told you it will save many dinners and lunches and it takes the same work to prepare one breast as two, I recommend that you double the amounts and make extra marinated breast — you’ll see it won’t last at home!

Oh! You don’t really know what marinade is? Well don’t worry, I’ll tell you: It’s a technique for preserving foods that consists of cooking the food in a mixture of olive oil, vinegar and spices. The name also refers to the food obtained with this technique.

It’s a traditional preparation whose main purpose was to preserve food thanks to cooking in an acidic medium, vinegar, which prevents bacterial growth. And although today, especially for meats, it’s no longer necessary to marinate them to preserve them since we have refrigerators and freezers, in my opinion it’s one of the most delicious dishes in our cuisine, so we shouldn’t stop making them, even if only for pleasure.

And for these kinds of dishes I can’t think of anything better than my beloved Le Creuset casserole because it distributes heat evenly and slow cooking is fantastic, because it cleans brilliantly, !!…and because it’s beautiful!! Right? You can also use it without fear to marinate the chicken since its enameled surface isn’t damaged by the acid. Like I said... Perfect!

Caractère Revol porcelain plates, Revol porcelain salad bowl, Pallarès stainless steel table knife, Revol porcelain oven tray and Le Creuset Round Cocotte Evolution

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast
• 125 ml vinegar
• 125 ml water
• 60 ml olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 6 or 7 black peppercorns
• Salt

For the salad:

• 200 g lamb's lettuce, arugula or mixed lettuces
• Marinated breast
• 1 large mango
• 100 g goat cheese log
• Walnuts
• Olive oil
• Vinegar
• Salt

Preparation

For the marinated breasts

1. First, and using a knife well sharpened, we clean the breast of any fat it may have and place it in a bowl.
2. Next we cut the onion into eighths and add it.
3. We peel the garlic and crush it (without smashing it, giving it a single blow) and add it to the bowl as well.
4. We add the vinegar, water and oil, as well as the bay leaf, salt, black pepper (whole peppercorns) and the cloves.
5. We put the bowl in the refrigerator and let the breasts marinate for at least 12 hours (it can be up to 24 hours).
6. After the resting time we put all the ingredients in the Le Creuset Cocotte and place over medium heat until it starts to boil.
7. At that point we lower the heat, put the lid on the casserole and cook for about 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes we check the doneness of the breasts, since depending on their size 30 minutes may be enough or they may need a few more minutes (it can be up to about 40 minutes). To know if they are ready you should be able to pierce the breast meat with a knife without feeling resistance, it should feel tender but not falling apart.
9. Once they are ready, we remove the casserole from the heat.
10. Let the breasts cool inside the casserole and when both the breasts and the marinade are cold, we put them in the fridge in a container preferably with lid.

For the salad

1. We start by taking the breast out of the refrigerator so it isn’t so cold when eating the salad (we can even warm the breast and eat the salad warm, it’s delicious that way too).
2. We place the chicken breast on a cutting board and cut it into cubes or thin slices, whichever we prefer, and set aside.
3. We peel the mango and cut it into cubes of about 2cm. Set aside.
4. We cut the goat cheese into slices or, if you prefer, remove the rind and crumble it and set aside as well.
5. If necessary wash the lettuce and spin it well with a salad spinner so it’s well dry, and place it in a salad bowl or directly on plates if you’re serving the salad plated.
6. Add the breast, mango and the cheese we had set aside and some shelled walnuts.
7. Dress with oil, vinegar and salt (for my taste the ideal proportion is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar), or if you prefer with the marinade from the breasts and olive oil (in that case I use 1 part oil to 1 part marinade, since the vinegar in the marinade is diluted with water and olive oil).
8. Remember that the dressing should be added just before serving the salad so the greens don’t go limp.

Le Creuset Round Cocotte Evolution, De Buyer stainless steel spoon, Caractère Revol porcelain plates and Revol porcelain salad bowl

Notes

• Marinades benefit greatly from resting once cooked because the flavors intensify, so you can prepare the marinated breast the day before and at mealtime you’ll only need to make the salad.

Now you have the base of my favorite salad, but you can adapt it to your taste, changing the fruit — for example raspberries would be perfect — or the nuts (you can use hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds…etc) or even different vinaigrettes, so you can vary it and not get bored. I hope you enjoy it!!