Lunch idea #3: Poached chicken, asparagus and almond salad

(serves 4)

I was basically living off this last week and it was super delicious and nutritious! Really easy to prepare once i'd poached the chicken on Monday, could just quickly chop up the raw veggies in the morning, grill the asparagus on the sandwich press (or could do it all in one go) and take rest of the veggies to work and assemble there. 

This was part of my eat-five-servings-of-vegetables-a-day initiative/challenge (for myself), harder than i had expected given that i like veggies a lot! But if one serving of vegetables equates to 1/2 cup cooked, or 1 cup uncooked, it's actually pretty substantial! Give it a go! 

Prep time: 15 min

Cooking time: 20 min

Ingredients
1 double chicken breast (700g)
2 bunches asparagus
2 cucumbers
400g baby spinach leaves
1 punnet cherry tomatoes (200g)
30g silvered almonds
1/2 spanish onion
10 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
olive oil

For poaching (optional):
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil

Dressing
Garlic-infused olive oil (or normal olive oil)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp sugar
squeeze of honey
1/2 T chia seeds
salt and pepper

Method
1. Cut chicken into 6-8 fist-sized pieces.
2. Boil a pot of water and put in the lemon, pepper, oregano and basil. Place the chicken in, bring back to the boil (2-3 minutes) then turn off the heat and leave for 15-20minutes. Cool and slice thinly.
NB. Check it's cooked by taking out a piece and slicing thinly. 

3. Meanwhile, dry roast the almonds either in the pan on low heat or in the oven at 150˚C.
4. If you want to save time in the morning, then prepare the asparagus by chopping off the last 3cm off the stalk, then cut into 3cm chunks. Place on the sandwich press/grill/pan with salt, pepper and olive oil and cook for 5-7 minutes until lightly char-grilled.

Plenty of greens: Our parsley pot-plant that Paul bought, baby spinach and asparagus!

5. Prepare the dressing by combining the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey, chia seeds in a small jar. Shake to combine and season with salt and pepper.

Awesome purchase from Costco, set of 4 infused olive oils, perfect for summer salad experiments!

6. To assemble the salad, finely chop the cucumber and spanish onion into thin slices. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Place in a salad bowl with the baby spinach, asparagus, parsley and chicken. 

7. Toss the dressing through and sprinkle the almonds on top when ready to serve!