Rainbow Salad with Grilled Chicken and Raspberry Walnut Dressing #30MinuteMondays

All the colors of the rainbow are represented in this quick paleo salad with a creamy, dairy-free raspberry walnut dressing.

I've been wanting to make a rainbow salad for a while now, but this seemed like an especially opportune moment. Summer produce is everywhere in all its resplendent hues, and more Americans are able to get married than ever before. Let's celebrate with this salad!

This healthy salad has pretty much all the colors of the rainbow (if you kind of merge indigo and violet together) plus pink. Pink is my favorite color and it's not really fair that it's not a part of the official rainbow, so I made sure it was included by making a nice pink dressing. Despite how creamy it looks, the dressing is dairy-free--the creaminess comes from the walnuts and shallots, and the color is thanks to the raspberries. It's inspired by the creamy shallot dressing from my pan-seared chicken, orange, and walnut salad, but this one's even better because it's pink.

Let's go over ROYGBIV and make sure we've got our bases covered. Red=strawberries, orange=chicken, yellow=bell pepper, green=avocado and arugula, blue=blueberries, indigo/violet=purple cabbage. We're good, right?

You'll notice here that the color orange is represented by the chicken. To make the chicken truly orange (and extra delicious) I rubbed it with a quick spice blend including turmeric and bittersweet smoked paprika. After uploading the photos to my computer, I sent one to my mom. On the phone later I asked her what she thought of it, and while she said it was gorgeous, she didn't think the chicken looked orange.

Just take a gander at it. It's totally orange, right? When I asked her what color she thought it was (if not orange), her response was, "I don't know--chicken colored?"

I think we can all agree that chicken is not a color.

But if, like my mother, you're not satisfied with chicken representing the color orange (or if you'd like to make a vegetarian version of this salad), you could substitute chopped apricots, mangos, or even oranges for the chicken.

This salad is the second installment in my 30 Minute Mondays series. Depending on your chopping speed you might need closer to 35 minutes to make this, but it's pretty fast! Slicing the chicken breasts in half horizontally and pounding them flat means they cook more quickly and stay extra tender, so that's a win-win. With pops of fruit, crunchy peppers and cabbage, rich avocado, and that creamy pink dressing, this salad has pretty much everything else covered!

If you're looking for another 30 minute meal, check out last week's roasted shrimp and asparagus with green goddess dressing.

Rainbow Salad with Grilled Chicken and Raspberry Walnut Dressing
Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

For the raspberry walnut dressing:

1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon raspberry wine vinegar*
2/3 cup walnut halves or pieces
6 ounces fresh raspberries
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon bittersweet smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
Freshly ground black pepper
2-3 chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Avocado oil or ghee, for cooking

For the salad:

5 ounces baby arugula
8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered
1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, deseeded, and chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 purple cabbage, cored and finely chopped

*You could probably substitute red wine vinegar, but since it's not as sweet as the raspberry vinegar, you might want to add a teaspoon of honey or maple syrup (if you're not on a Whole30, of course) to balance the flavors.

To make the dressing, pour the raspberry vinegar over the chopped shallot and let it macerate for a few minutes. Meanwhile, pulse the walnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Add the shallot and vinegar, raspberries, and salt to the food processor and pulse to form a paste. With the processor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream. If you'd like a thinner dressing, add up to 1/4 cup water in the same manner.

To make the chicken, mix the olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, turmeric, and a few grinds of pepper in a small bowl. Slice each piece of chicken in half horizontally to form two thinner cutlets. Place each cutlet between two pieces of parchment paper on a cutting board and pound out to an even thickness. Rub the spice and oil mixture evenly onto both sides of the chicken cutlets.

Heat a grill or grill pan over medium high heat. Oil the grates or pan with a little avocado oil or ghee. When the pan is very hot, add the chicken in a single layer, using two pans or cooking in batches if necessary. Grill for 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil while you put together the salad.

To assemble the salad, line a large platter or baking sheet with arugula. Arrange the strawberries in a strip, leave a little space for the chicken, and then arrange the bell pepper, avocado, blueberries, and cabbage in consecutive strips. Slice the chicken and add it between the strawberries and peppers. Serve the salad with the dressing.

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