Healthy Choices: Chicken Grapefruit Prune and Pine Nut Salad
A refreshing, delicious and colorful salad with texture and crunch. It inspires Summer.
It can be considered a complete meal because it is rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals. Me and my family often enjoy this salad as a Summer time favorite because it's the perfect low calorie and heart healthy dish. "Oh my pine nuts"!! Pine nuts are a traditional Italian ingredient found in many authentic recipes, the most popular being pesto.
Pine nuts have a buttery texture and add a certain crunch to many dishes including this Salad.
The Italian pine nut was brought to the United States by Italians the early 90's and ever since has grown to to immense popularity. The Italian word for Pine Nuts is Pinoli.
The original recipe requires only a simple olive oil dressing but I prefer adding, to the olive oil a dollop of low fat dragon fruit yogurt, which not only do I find it pairs well with grapefruit it also brings the dish all together adding a delicate and refreshing culinary charm.
The dish requires very little time preperation which is about 20 minutes total including a 10 minute stove time between grilling the chicken breast, sauteing the prunes and toasting the the pine nuts.
Chicken Grapefruit Prune and Pine Nut Salad
(Insalata di Pompelmo Prugne e Pinoli)
Indredients:
1 Grilled Chicken breast
1 red grapefruit
10 dried prunes
4 tablespoons of pine nuts
4 tablespoons of dragonfruit yogurt (plain or other falvored yogurt)
oil
Salt & Pepper
1 tablespoon of butter
Directions:
Place the dried prunes in a bowl of warm water and let them stand in the warm water for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile grill the chicken breast on a hot grilling pan for about 3 minutes each side. Onced cooked set aside to cool down. After the chicken breast has cooled down, cut into leghnthwise stips and set aside.
Peel the grapefruit and place the grapfruit slices into a bowl and set aside.
Heat up a small non stick frying pan with a little olive oil and add the pine nuts and toast them for about 1 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand. (set aside a few pine nuts for topping)
In another pan add 1 tablespoon of butter and sautee' the drained prunes for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand.
Once the chicken breast prunes and pine nuts have cooled down to room temperature, add them to the grapefruit slices and mix all together.
Add olive oil, salt and pepper and mix again.
Place salad on a salad dish and top with yogurt and pine nuts and serve.
*The above recipe is for one person. For each additional person double the recipe ingredients.
This dish is served at room temperature.
Buon Appetito!
Italian Foodista
