When your day calls for chasing golf or tennis balls, and you would rather be in the garden, easy to make Lemon Poached Chicken Salad is a refreshing lunch with a surprise bonus.
We’ve owned our house for over three years now, though it wasn’t until this past June that we fully occupied it. Since my move in day there has been a flurry of nesting activity. We hired a painter to freshen the den and the kitchen, which tumbled on into coating every wall in the house. At one point I joked to Andrew, our painter, that I feared standing still for too long due to the risk of “needing paint” myself.
Now, after three quarters of a year, we are fresh faced, furniture is properly placed, and the walls are hung with comforting art. It was time to conquer the garden.
It was always a scrubby thing with an oversized concrete parking pad in a very undersized diminished yard. There was erratic patches of angry grass, a cobbling of travertine stone pavers, and a rattle trap of a heating/cooling unit. To top it off, in the afternoons the sun comes around and beats down hard into our little corner. In Louisiana this is serious stuff. Last summer my poor herbs, which I emigrated from NYC, sagged and gasped as we tried to battle the unfamiliar elements, and in the end we both lost.
After many months of standing at the back door staring blankly out onto, what my mother would call, “Tobacco Road”, we hired a landscaper. This by far has proven to be one of the best things we have ever done. Within 2 weeks of our initial phone call they were back there with jack hammer and back hoe ripping out the nasty. They tilled and fertilized what lay beneath into a dark rich gold mine for our plantings.
What was once barren and harsh is now a lush secret garden. It’s so far removed from what was there before that it blows my mind. There are now layers and layers of plantings, the ragged stones now a magical pathway, and a warm wooden fence to shield and comfort. At the end of each day we are drawn back there with a glass of wine in hand to ease off the day.
Which brings me to this salad. We all have so much to do, whether you have a garden or not. When I come up with a light and delicious recipe, which offers a bonus- you know I have to share.
Poaching chicken has never been high on my list. Poaching has never produced more than an insipid taking meat, until now. I recently purchased Donna Hay’s new book Fresh and Light
And the bonus?? After the poaching, the broth is rich and lemony in a way that will make you swoon. It’s so amazing that I used it to make Lemon Broth with The Navels of Venus over on A Healthy Hunger. {the post to go up later today}
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 lemon sliced
- 4 sprigs lemon thyme
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but into equal sized pieces
- 6 cups sliced green cabbage
- 1 cup sliced celery with fronds
- 1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
- juice of one lemon
- generous pinch of salt
- generous grind of black pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced rind of the poached lemons
- In a large saucepan, place the stock, thyme, lemon and pepper corns and bring to a boil. Gently boil for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and gently poach for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for at least 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken and allow to cool.
- Strain the broth and reserve for future use.
- In a small bowl combine the buttermilk, lemon juice, salt, pepper and minced rind.
- Arrange greens onto plates, slice chicken and place on top and serve with dressing.
