This week – TOKYO SALAD (p. 49) [also Roasted Chicken Breast (p. 149) and Tamari Salad Dressing (p. 155)]
Ok, I know that some may think that picking a salad book for my cooking challenge is cheating, but it’s not!!! Most of the recipes in Mandy’s Gourmet Salads have a cooked meat or substitute component and I have to make the dressing from scratch so, in my books, that constitutes “cooking”.
I chose to start with the Tokyo Salad because the ingredients (except for chicken, of course) were raw and it was all things that I could use again throughout the week – so no waste.
Ingredients –
- Romaine Lettuce
- Mesclun Greens
- Carrot
- Red Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Cucumber
- Garlic
- Tofu (used chicken instead)
- Sesame seeds
- Red Onion
- Apple cider vinegar
- Tamari
- Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- Montreal Steak Spice
- EVOO, salt and pepper
Difficulty level –
Full disclosure – I bought shredded carrots and broccoli florets, thereby reducing my prep time. I did, however, shred the cabbage myself (for the very first time!).
This salad has three recipes in one (a recipe for the actual gourmet salad, for the chicken, and for the dressing) and all of them are straightforward and easy to make.
Things I Googled While Making this Recipe –
- What are mesclun greens? It’s a mix of chervil, arugula, leafy lettuces and endive.
- What are nutritional yeast flakes? (I was more interested in seeing what the package looked like so that I knew what to look for in the grocery store!)
Alterations to Recipe –
I am not a fan of Tofu, so I substituted it with Mandy’s Roasted Chicken Breast recipe – it is delicious and makes enough for 6 salads, which left me with plenty for the rest of the week.
I didn’t have Montreal Steak spice, so I used The Keg spice mix instead.
The recipe calls for black and white sesame seeds; I used the white sesame seeds that I had toasted for a previous recipe and it tasted great!
Verdict –
The Tahini dressing was amazing; I used it all week. The chicken was moist and the Keg spice gave it the perfect taste. Plus, I had enough chopped up vegetables that I was able to make several salad meals. I literally looked forward to lunch almost everyday this week because of how fresh and flavourful this dish is.
And, it’s official, I think I am FOREVER going to have a salad bar in my fridge! Every day this week, I just grabbed a bowl, opened my fridge and mixed all of the veggies that I had already prepped and stored in there. Throw in the chicken (that I had already cubed), add some seeds, pour the dressing and lunch is served!
100% a make-again recipe.
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