Tarragon Chicken Salad

This delicious, hearty salad offers a touch of the exotic.

Tarragon Chicken Salad Ingredients

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

- 2 skinless chicken breast fillets (about 300 g/10 oz in total)
- 350 ml (12 fl oz) salt–reduced chicken or vegetable stock (broth)
- 2 long sprigs tarragon
- 1 small lemon
- 3 black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium head witlof (Belgian endive/chicory)
- 150 g (5 oz) baby spinach leaves
- 2 large oranges, peeled and segmented
1⁄2 cup (45 g/2 oz) flaked almonds, toasted

How to Cook a Tarragon Chicken Salad

1 Place chicken in a single layer in a shallow pan. Cover with stock. Remove leaves from tarragon sprigs; set aside. Lightly crush stalks with a rolling pin, then add to pan. Using a vegetable peeler, remove a wide strip of rind from lemon. Add to pan with peppercorns.

2 Place pan over moderate heat and bring stock to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover pan and cook 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from pan with a slotted spoon; leave to cool. Strain stock and reserve. Discard stalks, rind and peppercorns.

3 To make dressing, whisk tahini with 4 tablespoons reserved stock. Add another 1 to 2 tablespoons if mixture is too thick. Squeeze juice from lemon; stir into dressing. Chop enough tarragon leaves to make 1 tablespoon. Add to dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4 Slice witlof diagonally into narrow pieces. Place on a large serving platter with spinach leaves. Add orange segments and toasted almonds. Slice chicken into wide strips and add to salad. Spoon on dressing.

Each serving provides
1274 kilojoules
30 g protein
15 g total fat
2 g saturated fat
64 mg cholesterol
10 g carbohydrate
5 g fibre