noradrenaline morna: Eat To Compete: Winter Chopped Salad

Eat To Compete: Winter Chopped Salad
Saturday, February 09, 2013??9:53:43 AM PT
This article first ran in the '09, '10 winter but a good recipe never gets old.

- Recipe & Photos by Casey Weaver -

Winter is one of the best times of the year for leafy green vegetables, root vegetables, and one of my favorite fruits; apples. Throw all these things together and you have yourself a very healthy, seasonal salad. By mixing in a salad here and there, come early spring you will be down to fighting weight and ready to roll. And maybe you?ll fit back into the Levi?s (or those R&R jeans you splurged on, depending on your style) you were wearing before the Holidays.

Ingredients

Salad
2 cups (about) escarole, chopped
2 cups (about) frisee, chopped
1 large Granny Smith apple, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
3 green onion, sliced ? inch
2 radishes, shredded
? fennel bulb, diced
? cup roasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 lb (about) boneless, skinless chicken breast
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
1 T olive oil (for cooking)

Dressing
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
2 T cranberry juice
juice of one Meyer lemon
1 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the Chicken Breast
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy, oven safe, skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and season liberally with salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook about four minutes then flip and cook an additional four to five minutes. Transfer to the preheated oven and cook for about ten minutes, until cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare the Salad
Rinse the escarole and frisee well. Chop about two cups to your desired consistency (be careful not chop too fine or you may end up with a bunch of mush). Place the chopped lettuce in your salad bowl.

Shredding the apple, carrot, and radish is made infinitely easier with the proper attachment and a food processor. Though if you like to work for your food, or know where to find some cheap labor, a good old-fashioned cheese grater works just the same. You can also dice the three, though diced chunks of raw carrot and radish might provide a bit too much bite in your salad. Whatever you decide, add the carrot, apple, and radish to the salad.

Dicing the fennel is easy. Just make some horizontal cuts all the way across the bulb, then turn and slice lengthwise about a quarter of an inch apart. The bulb will naturally cut into nice little cubes, similar to an onion.

Add the remaining ingredients to your salad bowl. Cut the cooked chicken into ? inch cubes and add it, too.

For the Dressing

Combine all ingredients and whisk well. I recommend letting each person dress their own salad to avoid any issues. In my experience, an over (or sometimes under) dressed salad can make for some pretty unhappy cyclists.

- Eat Well. Race Hard.

About The Author:
Casey grew up in the kitchen inspired by his mom and grandmother, who ran the catering and cooking instruction company, Cooking in the Canyon, in Brentwood, Ca. He has worked as a private chef and currently works with the catering company Gourmet Solutions. He received his undergraduate degree in Communication Studies from UCLA, currently races for the NOW-MS elite amateur team, and coaches endurance athletes with Velo-Fit, llc.

? Contact Casey at Casey.b.Weaver@gmail.com.

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