I love buffalo wings. I've tried a few paleo wing recipes, but what if you could get that flavor with a healthy portion of vegetables as well? What a great meal that could be. Enter Melissa Joulwan's Buffalo Chicken Salad from Well Fed 2.
I gathered my ingredients and got to work.
I prepared the poaching liquid and added the chicken. My 2.5 quart sauce pan was just the right size for these two large chicken breasts. I brought it to the boil and then cut back the heat, to simmer.
After it had simmered for the appointed time, I put the cover on the pot, turned off the heat and set a time for another 20 minutes.
While the chicken was poaching, I prepared the dressing. To do this you start by making the Garlic Mayo recipe that is also included in Well Fed 2. I made a batch of plain Paleo Mayo (from Well Fed 1) the night before.
After chopping a little parsley and pressing some garlic through my new garlic press, the rest of the recipe is basically measuring and mixing. You use this kicked up may to make the dressing with the addition of two other ingredients.
With my dressing ready, I prepared the ghee and hot sauce bath for the chicken.
When my timer went off, this is what the chicken looked like.
I removed the chicken and shredded it with forks.
I mixed the chicken in the hot sauce and ghee. This smelled about as awesome as covering anything in melted ghee would. Yum.
Another task I took care of while the chicken was cooking was chopping the vegetables for the salad.
I don't really use iceberg lettuce very often. Since I knew it would be a few hours, I used my lettuce knife so it wouldn't brown. Probably not necessary, but I'm a gadget girl and it was in my drawer.
At lunch time at work, I pulled out my big blue salad bowl, mixed up the salad and dressing, and topped it with the heated chicken.
Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients: You should be able to find everything you need at your "big box" grocery store except for the mustard seeds. I've only been able to find them in the Whole Foods bulk spice section. They aren't expensive.
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| The Elusive Mustard Seeds |
Preparation & Cooking Time: I made a batch of paleo mayo the night before making this recipe. It took me about 4 minutes plus the time to let the egg come to room temperature. If you already have a batch of mayo made, then you get to knock off some time.
It took me 1 hour from start to mixing up the chicken with the hot sauce and ghee. It took me about 12 minutes to chop the salad vegetables, but I did that while the chicken was cooking. The dressing took me about 10 minutes to prepare not including the mayo prep time, but again, I did this while the chicken cooked.
Clean Up: Everything except my cooking pan went into the dishwasher. Yay!
The Paleo Review: Thumbs Up! This chicken is so flavorful and I don't mean just the hot sauce and ghee. The poaching liquid makes the meat moist and flavorful. The jalapeño flavor certainly comes through. Add a hot portion to the salad with the creamy cooling dressing and you have a filling meal.
The salad ingredients calls for a seedless cucumber. I bet she suggests the seedless to cut down on extra moisture. I already had a regular cucumber I needed to use and it turned out fine.
I'm not typically a fan of chicken breasts, but I would totally make this chicken and serve it over spaghetti squash or cauliflower rice. Yum.
I've got two more recipes to review before I sum up my experience with Well Fed 2. So far, it's been a solid cookbook.