Curried Chicken and Kale Salad with Creamy Harissa Dressing
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Comfy boots, desk snacks, new seasons of Love Is Blind—there’s no such thing as too many. Another thing we always want more of? Nutritious, make-ahead recipes we’ll actually want to eat. Enter the curried chicken and kale salad with creamy harissa dressing from Alex Snodgrass’s new cookbook, Dinner Tonight: 100 Simple, Healthy Recipes for Every Night of the Week.
“The creamy dressing comes together quickly by simply blending goat cheese with store-bought harissa and a few additional ingredients,” writes Snodgrass. “The dressing is then tossed with kale, apples, golden raisins and crunchy pumpkin seeds, and topped off with warm chicken that is sautéed with curry powder and cumin.”
She suggests making the dish (which happens to be low carb, keto-friendly and gluten free, BTW) ahead for a nutritious meal prep. Just keep all the components in separate containers until you’re ready to serve to keep the greens from getting soggy.
From Dinner Tonight by Alex Snodgrass. Copyright © 2023 by The Defined Dish LLC. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow Cookbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Ingredients
Creamy Harissa Dressing
¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons spicy or mild harissa
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Chicken
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
Salad
8 cups deribbed, finely chopped Lacinato kale (about 2 bunches)
2 cups baby arugula
1 medium Honeycrisp apple, cut into 2-inch thin matchsticks
¼ cup golden raisins
½ cup salted, roasted pumpkin seeds
½ cup roughly chopped fresh dill, divided
⅓ cup crumbled goat cheese, for serving
Directions
1. Make the dressing: In a countertop blender or using an immersion blender in a wide-mouth jar, combine the dressing ingredients. Blend them until the dressing is completely smooth. Set it aside while you assemble the rest of the salad. It will keep in the fridge for three to five days.
2. Cook the chicken: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken to the skillet and season it with the salt, pepper, curry powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika and cumin. Combine and cook, tossing occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. During the last minute of cooking, add the lemon juice to deglaze the pan. Toss to combine until each piece is evenly coated with lemon and spices. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Assemble the salad: In a large bowl, combine the kale, arugula, apple, raisins, pumpkin seeds and half the dill. Pour a few tablespoons of the dressing onto the salad and toss until the kale is evenly coated and slightly wilted, about 2 minutes.
4. Divide the salad among four bowls, then evenly distribute the warm cooked chicken over it. Finish it with the goat cheese crumbles, an extra drizzle of dressing and the rest of the dill.
566 calories
32g fat
23g carbs
50g protein
15g sugars
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Note: The information shown is Edamam's estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.