Beetroot, Pear, Feta and Chicken Salad Recipe

Beetroot, Pear, Feta and Chicken Salad Recipe

Wear an apron when chopping beetroot, and wash your board and hands afterwards or you’ll get red fingerprints everywhere.

Ingredients

4 good-sized beetroots, cooked

3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
1 x lemon oil dressing see below recipe
 sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 200g/7oz feta cheese
 a small bunch of fresh mint, smallest leaves picked
optional: a large handful of sunflower seeds

2 chicken breasts cut into strips

Juice of 1 lemon

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Lemon Oil

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic, mashed and finely chopped

1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together until the oil and lemon juice has infused

 

Method:

Cut the chicken breasts into strips, and place them into a bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken, season with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves of thyme from the stalk/sprigs and add them to the chicken.  Mix the chicken with the lemon juice and the thyme. Set this aside so that the flavors can infuse while you continue with preparing the other ingredients

 Cut the beetroot into quarters, and the peeled pears into eighths. Dress with a little of the lemon oil dressing, just enough dressing to coat all the beetroot and pear.

Place the mint leaves into the serving bowl, and then add the dressed beetroot and pear. Using your fingers, gently break up the feta into pieces, and add the feta to the serving dish with the mint, pear and beetroot. Place the salad into the fridge while you fry the chicken

 
Put a pan onto the stove, and drizzle the pan with olive oil. Bring it to a medium to high heat. Add the chicken strips to the pan, and fry at a medium to high heat. Do not add the liquid from the bowl into to the pan; this would cause the chicken to boil instead of fry. Mix the chicken around the pan so that each piece gets a light brown color and then turn down the heat and cook until the chicken is cooked through.

 Add the chicken to the already prepared salad, and serve while the chicken is still warm. Drizzle with the lemon oil and enjoy. Bon Appétit

 Interesting facts:

Beetroot is rich in calcium, magnesium, it is also rich in folic acid and vitamin C, as well as small amounts of B1, B2, B3 and B5