Greek Chicken Salad

*Greek Chicken Salad*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

I subscribe to a cookery magazine each month called Delicious. This was one of the recipes featured in the June 2009 issue. I adapted it a bit to our own tastes, and you know what ???? It was delicious!

3 free range chicken breasts
the juice and finely grated zest of one lemon
a handful of chopped fresh oregano
3 TBS olive oil
1 fat clove of garlic peeled and crushed
6 rashers of free range dry cured smokey bacon, cooked until crisp and cut into 3 pieces each
70g of fresh salad leaves
50 g of black olives, preferably kalamata, but I used those lovely dry cured black olives and they were wonderful
1/2 of a small cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and sliced into half moons
12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
100g of thick Greek Yogurt
the finely grated zest and juice of another small lemon
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper



Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Place your chicken breasts in a shallow glass baking dish. Squeeze the juice of the first lemon over the chicken. Add the lemon zest, chopped oregano, garlic, and half of the olive oil. Rub all of this into the breasts. Season to taste with some sea salt and the black pepper. Set aside to marinate for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place in the oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until done and the juices run clear. Don't overcook, as dry chicken tastes nasty. Start checking at 15 minutes.

Place the salad leaves, olives, cucumber and tomatoes in a bowl and toss with the bacon pieces.

In another bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, second clove of garlic, the rest of the olive oil, the zest and juice of the second lemon and some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. (If you find this too thick, you can thin with a bit of water. I didn't feel this was necessary myself. I loved the consistency.)

Divide the salad amongst 4 chilled plates. Slice the roasted chicken and divide it equally amongst the plates and serve each with some of the dressing drizzled over top. Pass any remaining dressing at the table. (In fact I would double the dressing ingredients so that there is plenty to go around. It's delicious, and if you use the no fat Greek yoghurt, it's not too bad for you.