Blackened Chicken Salad w/ Green Goddess Ranch

• servings: 2

Ingredients

Green Goddess Ranch Dressing

200 g (3/4 cup) plain greek yogurt

200 g (3/4 cup) mayonnaise

20 g (1-2 tbsp) red onion, chopped

7 g (~1 tsp) lemon juice

7 g (~1 tsp) white vinegar

7 g (~1 tsp) hot sauce

1 clove garlic

7 g (~1 tbsp) cilantro

7 g (~1 tbsp) parsley

7 g (~1 tbsp) basil

30 g (~1/4 cup) dill

2 g (~1/2 tsp) black pepper, 4 g (~ 1 tsp) salt (or just season to taste)

Base Salad Components

45 g (1/3 cup) sweet potato, diced & roasted (see instructions)

45 g (1/3 cup) garbanzo beans, drained

45 g (1/3 cup) carrots julienned or diced

150 g (2 cups) romaine lettuce, thinly sliced

15 g (1 tbsp) almonds, roughly chopped

15 g (1 tbsp) pickled onions

15 g (1 tbsp) goat cheese, crumbled

Blackened Chicken

1 medium chicken breast, per serving

Kosher Salt

2 parts smoked paprika

1 part garlic powder

1 part onion powder

1 part dried thyme

Neutral oil or butter for blackening

Directions

* Make Dressing:

Blend all Green Goddess Ranch Dressing ingredients until smooth. If too thick, adjust consistency with water if needed. Taste for salt. (You can use a food processor, blender, or immersion blender in a tall-sided container.

* Roast & Prep Veggies:

First, preheat the oven to 450F (232C). While that heats, peel and cube your sweet potato (or any other veggies you would like to roast) into 1/2 inch pieces. Add the cubed potatoes to a baking sheet, and cover with a light coating of neutral oil and a healthy sprinkle of salt. Toss the whole tray into the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until crisped up to your liking. You’ll want to move them around about halfway through to ensure some spots aren’t getting too burnt.

While those are cooking, thinly slice your lettuce, julienne or dice some carrots, rough chop your almonds, drain and salt some canned garbanzo beans, and get out your pickled onions and goat cheese. (For veggie size, I like when I can get a piece of everything on my fork or spoon rather than having bites that are just pure lettuce.)

While the sweet potatoes finish roasting, you can start the chicken.

* Blackened Chicken:

Pound your chicken breasts until thinned out a bit, or just slice them in half. Set on a tray and sprinkle salt over all sides. Then, create your blackening seasoning: mix together 2 parts hot paprika, 1 part garlic powder, 1 part onion powder, and 1 part dried thyme in a small container. Liberally sprinkle the seasoning all over the chicken until evenly coated - this will help ensure even darkening during the sear.

To cook, all you have to do is add some oil to a pan (more traditionally, butter would be used) to coat. Add the chicken over medium heat and let it get a nice deep color on one side before flipping. Since I cut mine thin, I can finish them right in the pan, but if your seasoning is getting too burnt where it starts smoking and the interior is not cooked, you can also finish this in the oven.

*Assembly/Plating:

First, pre-dress the lettuce by mixing in some of the dressing until evenly coated (this allows you to plate neatly without worrying about big gobs of dressing atop).

Add the dressed lettuce to a wide and shallow bowl. Top with sliced blackened chicken, chopped carrots, roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas, a little sprinkle of almonds, a bit more green goddess ranch, goat cheese, and lastly some pickled onion for a pop of color.