Description
(Caesar Style Salad) – Chicken, Bacon, Mozzarella, Avocado, Tomato, Salad
Caesar Salad is named after chef Caesar Cardini who created it in his restaurant in
Caesar salad has always been one of my favourite salads; I discovered that by adding a few extra ingredients you could turn this salad into a satisfying main course rather than just a light starter.
This recipe is also ideal for any leftovers from a previous Chicken roast.
2 chicken breasts
OR
About 250-300g of left over chicken from a roast
1 large tomato (beef tomato recommended)
3 Slices of smoked or un-smoked bacon
1 Avocado
2 Slices of white bread – minus the crusts (for the croutons)
1 pinch oregano for the croutons (optional)
150g pack of mozzarella cheese
1 head Romaine lettuce (recommended)
OR
1 iceberg lettuce
Ground Black Pepper
1 bottle of quality Caesar salad dressing (huge array of choice at any good supermarket)
(For the croutons) Cut the 2 slices of white bread minus the crusts into cube shapes until you have a generous amount of cubes.
Heat 5-6 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan on a medium to high heat, when oil is hot add the cubed bread and add a couple of pinches of oregano (optional). The bread will absorb the oil quite quickly so be sure to add more oil if necessary. Heat the bread until it has an even golden colour and gained a hardened texture.
Set croutons aside.
Do not worry if croutons do not seem too crunchy, as they will harden further at room temperature.
Tear lettuce into bite sized pieces and cover each plate with lettuce, ready to receive the toppings.
Cut tomato into thin slices and then quarter each slice,
Cut avocado into small cube shaped pieces,
Cut mozzarella into thin slices,
Add all these to top of lettuce.
Take the 3 slices of bacon, roll them together and cut into thin strips.
Cut fresh chicken breasts into bite sized cubes or long strips if preferred.
COOK THE CHICKEN ACCORDING TO PREFERENCE – a) FRY, b) GRILL or use c) LEFTOVERS:
a) Fry fresh cubed chicken in a large pan with 4-6 table spoonfuls of olive oil until cooked through in a little olive oil for about 6-8 minutes on a medium heat, turning chicken pieces over once in a while to allow chicken to cook thoroughly (make sure chicken is cooked through by inspecting the middle of one of the chicken cubes with a knife, if no pink is visible, then chicken has cooked thoroughly).
Add bacon to chicken when only 3 minutes of cooking time for chicken remain, stir thoroughly with chicken to allow to cook thoroughly.
b) Grill the chicken pieces instead on a high heat for 6-8 minutes turning chicken pieces over half way through cooking time, also cook the bacon alongside with the chicken when 3 or so minutes remain to grill chicken. Inspect with knife is chicken is cooked thoroughly.
Toss bacon and chicken grilled pieces together.
c) If using left over chicken from a previous roast, simply cut or shred by hand the chicken into small bite size pieces and remove skin. Cook bacon in a pan on a medium heat until crispy, no oil is necessary due to fat in bacon.
Top the salad with the chicken and bacon the way you prepared it
Top with Caesar salad dressing according to taste.
Top with the croutons and season with pepper according to taste.
Add extra salt if required, but the bacon in this recipe should add sufficient saltiness to the whole dish.
