Club Salad
I tried, and did not entirely fail, to make a salad similar to the club salad from Houston’s. I used this recipe for the honey-mustard dressing. It made far too much even when I halved the amount. I recommend quartering the amount and going light on the honey, and have put my approximations below. Making this salad is based on the assumption that you have leftover chicken tenders in the house; otherwise it would be far too much of a pain to make. Our leftovers were from a recipe for Firecracker Chicken from Cook’s Country. (Sorry no link for the recipe, but it’s from the current issue, August/September 2006.)
Club Salad (serves 2 as a meal)
1 bag or 2 hearts of romaine (about six cups)
2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
1 hard cooked egg, sliced
1 ripe Haas avocado, sliced
4 chicken tenders
Honey Mustard dressing
1/4 c. olive or other vegetable oil
1 Tbl. cider vinegar
2 Tbl. honey
2 Tbl. dijon mustard
3 Tbl. mayonaise
pinch garlic salt
Whisk all ingredients together in small bowl.
If using bagged lettuce, sort through, then wash and spin dry. Think I’m being paranoid? Think again. If using hearts of romaine, strip off any wilted or brown outer leaves, wash until clean. Spin dry and break into bite-size pieces.
If you have already cooked bacon, crumble it. If you don’t, chop or cut bacon with scissors into small pieces, fry until crisp, remove with slotted spoon to drain on paper towels.
To boil eggs: Poke hole with pushpin or needle in fat end of egg to puncture membrane. Cover eggs with water. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and cover for fifteen minutes. Transfer to ice bath for 5 minutes.
To slice avocado: slice with butter knife in skin, then use spoon to scoop out slices.
Reheat chicken tenders at 350 for five minutes. Remove and chop into 3/4 inch pieces.
Divide romaine between bowls. Top with crumbled bacon, egg, avocado, and chicken. Drizzle with honey mustard dressing. (Do not pre-dress the greens, the dressing is heavy and the salad will quickly become too wet.) Serve immediately.