Summertime brings the craving for light and cool dishes. I love cold rice noodles, topped with salad and ANY kind of meat. This particular recipe hosts a peanut sauce marinated chicken breast. I like to use skin-on chicken breasts, because when you broil the chicken, the skin gives each piece a chicken a nice crispy bite, on top.
This is a plentiful salad, good for a large group. The portioning in this particular recipe, yields 2 servings.
INGREDIENTS:
Salad
1/2 package (about 3.5 ounces) of rice noodles (Maifun)
1 heart of Romaine lettuce head – shredded
1/4 cup cilantro – finely chopped
1/4 fresh mint – finely chopped
2 carrots – shaved
2-3 scallions – thinly sliced
1 small cucumber – cut to matchsticks
1/2 cup roasted peanuts – roughly chopped
Chicken
1 1/5 lbs chicken breast (skin on)
1/3 cup Thai Chicken Sauce
Sweet Chili Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons light rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons water
1 lime – freshly juiced
DIRECTIONS:
Cut the chicken into 3 pieces, lengthwise, making sure each piece has a piece of skin on top.
Marinate the chicken in the Thai Peanut Sauce for about an hour.
Place dry rice noodles in a bowl and fill with boiling water. Let soften for about 10 minutes. Drain and refrigerate.
In a large salad bowl, mix together shredded Romaine hearts, sliced scallions, chopped mint and cilantro.
Shave (or shred) the carrots, and matchstick the cucumber.
Pre-heat oven to BROIL (HIGH) and move the oven rack to the very top.
Place marinated chicken on the boiler pan, and place on the top shelf of the oven. Broil on HIGH for about 5-7 minutes. Make sure to check on the skin, you don’t want to burn it. If the skin is burning too quickly, move the broiler pan to a lower shelf.
In a bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients. Make sure to taste it, as it might be too acidic for for everyone’s liking. You can add either more honey or more water, depending on your taste preference.
To plate: Place cold noodles at the bottom of the bowl, top with salad mixture, followed by carrots and cucumbers. Top the plate with a slice of chicken. Sauce use the dish and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of chopped peanuts.
