Chicken, watermelon and walnut salad - with a buttermilk ranch dressing

Yes, another chicken recipe! For me chicken has so many plus points. Its versatility, as well as the ease and speed with which it can be cooked, make it one of the most popular meats around. It's certainly popular in our house! Plus of course it has a high level of good quality protein, as well as B vitamins, iron, copper and selenium... and it's usually reasonably priced too!

So how about this recipe - it's chicken served with a combination of juicy watermelon, creamy buttermilk and peppery radishes … Yum!

Ingredients:

Serves Two

For the salad
2 chicken breasts
½ tbsp. olive oil
1 fennel bulb, stem and outer layers removed, thinly sliced
250g watermelon, cubed
50g radishes, sliced
40g walnuts, roughly chopped
25g rocket leaves
For the dressing
75ml buttermilk
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp. chopped chives

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Place a griddle pan over a medium heat and coat the chicken breasts with the olive oil. Place the chicken in the griddle pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, until there are dark golden griddle marks. Place on a small baking tray in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through.
2. Place all the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a jug and season. Drizzle over the salad and divide between two plates, then slice the chicken breasts and place on top of the salad.

Nutritional Details:
Each serving provides
14.1g carbohydrate 19.4g fat 47.3g protein

Recipe

From an original idea here 

Need help with weight/measurement conversion

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Walnuts are one of the most popular and versatile of all nuts. When picked young, they're known as wet and their milky white kernels are mainly used for pickling. Far more common is the dried nut, either shelled or un-shelled. The brown-skinned kernel has a ridged surface, which looks like two halves of the brain.

Slightly bitter in flavour, walnuts are good eaten raw or cooked, in either sweet or savoury dishes, and are particularly useful for baking.

Read more about them here

It is interesting to note that some of the greenery in the above recipe is provided by using rocket leaves which is sometimes known as Arugula. Now we all know that salad greens are healthy, and that most are very low in calories. However, did you know that not all give you a good dose of nutrients... well Arugula/ Rocket is one leafy green vegetable that stands out as a rich source of many vitamins and minerals.

Consider the difference between iceberg lettuce and arugula/rocket:
Arugula contains about eight times the calcium,
fives times the vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K,
four times the iron as the same amount of iceberg lettuce.
The choice is easy... start with arugula/rocket for a healthier salad!

A variety of recipe ideas are found within this blog, and not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan