999-Salad Days

I recently saw a salad that had chicken and fennel in it. That sounded interesting, but I wanted to take it a step or two further. So I decided to make a fancy salad.

Chicken, Apple & Fennel salad with Tarragon Lemon Vinaigrette

1 cooked boneless/skinless chicken breast, sliced or pulled
1 cup sliced fennel
1 sweet, firm apple, thinly sliced
1 head green-leaf lettuce, washed & chopped
1/2 cup toasted pecans

Toss these ingredients with the vinaigrette. Enjoy.

Tarragon & Lemon Vinaigrette
1 small shallot finely diced, about 1 TB
1 TB fresh, chopped Tarragon
pinch of sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp Chardonnay vinegar
2-4 TB olive oil
salt/pepper to taste

Mix the first five ingredients together, whisk in olive oil. Season with salt & pepper.

Here are the pecans. They added a great earthy crunchiness.

The leafy greens, chopped fennel and apples!

Here's the dressing. I used a touch more olive oil, but it became super creamy. Lovely.

The final salad. It was beautiful. The tarragon was present, but subtle. It paired amazingly with with fennel. The fennel and apples also played really nice together. Overall, this was a very pleasing dinner.