Neven's Spanish Food Trails: Grilled Marinated Chicken Caesar Salad with Anchovies
Ingredients
For The Marinade:
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 sprig of thyme, picked
- 1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
- Zest of 1 lemon
For The Dressing:
- 8-10 Anchovy fillets
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 40ml red wine vinegar
- 1 large egg
- 200ml olive oil
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 2 large, skinless chicken breasts
- Croutons
- Cos Salad, trimmed
- Parmesan cheese shavings
Method
To marinate the chicken breasts:
- Lightly score the chicken breasts on each side and place in a dish. In a bowl place the olive oil, garlic cloves, thyme, smoked paprika and the zest of one lemon.
- Mix well and pour over the chicken breasts.
- Allow to marinade overnight, but 2-3 hours is perfect.
To make the dressing:
- In a jug, place 5 anchovy fillets, crushed garlic, Dijon mustard, egg, vinegar, salt and pepper.
- Using a hand blender slowly blitz together.
- While the hand blender is on, very slowly and constantly pour in the olive oil. The more oil added creates a thicker consistency for the dressing.
To cook the chicken:
- Preheat a frying pan/griddle pan until hot. Season the chicken breasts lightly with salt and carefully lift the chicken breasts on to the hot pan and season the other side with salt and pepper.
- Add in the remaining oil and some butter for flavour. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until lovely and golden brown in colour. Turn over and allow to cook on the other side and colour.
- Turn down the pan and cook for a further 2-3 minutes on either side. To check if the chicken is cooked, press the largest part of the chicken breast and ensure it is firm to the press.
- Remove from the pan. Cut into large bitesize pieces
To serve:
- Place the cos salad in the bottom of the bowls followed by the chicken.
- Sprinkle over croutons, the freshly made salad dressing and grated parmesan cheese shavings.
- Place some of the remaining anchovy fillets on top to finish.
