Chicken, cucumber, apple, radish & mint salad

(serves 4)

This new combination meets the summer salad criteria: colourful, refreshing and tasty! I don't know if this sometimes happens to you, but you have all these random ingredients in your fridge and you start having crazy ideas popping into your head about how they should come together. Sometimes this is a bit hit and miss, but this was one of those moments that worked well!
Radish is a lovely bitey addition that isn't always popular, but giving it a bit of time in the salt and sugar softens the taste and the texture a little, making it a bit more appealing for salads! This combo worked well with the sweetness of the apple, freshness of the cucumber balancing out the radish, and the Dijon added a little bit of a kick :)

Prep time: 45 min

Ingredients
300g poached chicken (approx 2 chicken maryland)
150g mixed salad leaves
2 radish
1 cucumber
1 apple

Dressing
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
3-4 T olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Bring a pot of water (enough to cover the chicken) to the boil. To poach the chicken, add the chicken and bring the water back to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside for 20-30 minutes. Check to see it is cooked by piercing with a knife and the juices should run clear (rather than slightly bloody). Cool and shred the chicken
2. Slice the radish into thin slices. Sprinkle with 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and let it rest. 
NB. This will soften the radish by extracting some of the water, and will also leave it slightly less bitter and punchy.

3. Thinly slice the cucumber and the apple.
4. Make the dressing by combining the vinegar, honey, mustard and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Dress the chicken with 1/3 of the dressing.
6. Construct the salad by putting the leaves in the middle, then layering the cucumber, radish and apple and topping with the chicken. 
7. Drizzle the remaining dressing over and toss until well combined!