Asian Pesto Chicken Salad

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 50 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, if necessary
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
• 4 boneless chicken breasts, with skin
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 lemons, juice of
• 1/2 lb baby spinach, washed and dried
• 2 jalapeno chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon peeled minced fresh ginger
• 1 cup roasted salted macadamia nuts or 1 cup dry roasted salted peanut
• 2 lemons, zest of, of
• 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup fresh basil leaf, packed
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, packed
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 prepare an outdoor grill to hot.
• 2 alternatively, heat a grill pan or heavy saute pan over high heat, swirling oil to coat pan.
• 3 while heating, bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to boil.
• 4 cook orzo until just tender, about 10 minutes; drain well.
• 5 season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
• 6 grill chicken, turning once, until juice run clear when meat is pierced, about 10 minutes.
• 7 remove from grill, and cut into ¼ inch wide slices.
• 8 allow chicken to come to room temp, if preferred, or continue with warm chicken slices.
• 9 in a large bowl, combine the chicken with 1 cup of the pesto, the orzo and the tomatoes.
• 10 season with salt and pepper.
• 11 in a medium bowl, combine ¼ cup of pesto with the lemon juice, then toss with the spinach.
• 12 taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
• 13 divide the spinach mixture among 4 plates.
• 14 mound chicken salad on the spinach, drizzle with additional pesto, and serve.
• 15 asian pesto:.
• 16 in blender or food processor, combine the chiles, garlic, sugar, ginger, nuts, zest, and 1 cup of the oil and blend until smooth.
• 17 add the basil, mint, and cilantro and blend while slowly adding the remaining oil until a thick puree is formed.
• 18 season with salt and pepper.
• 19 store in a tightly covered jar and referigerate.
• 20 stir sauce well before using.
• 21 makes about 3 ½ cups, lasts 2 weeks, refrigerated.
• 22 the chicken salad recipe will use a total of 1 1/4 cups of asian pesto, plus additional for drizzling.