Recipe Makeover: Ina Garten’s Mustard Chicken Salad

Want to hear something perverted? I watch the Food Network while on the treadmill.  It's like allowing a drug addict to watch the movie Blow on repeat.  Anyway, while I was huffing and puffing up mile 3, I was watching Ina Garten work up a chicken salad that looked gorgeous.  Generally, when you think of chicken salad you think of it as a light meal when in reality it can be loaded with fat laden mayo and dressing - especially store bought.  Ina's recipe was made in such a way that with a few simple tweaks it is actually a healthy and calorie friendly meal.  Her original recipe is here and I have to say the photo that accompanies it makes it look awful but I assure you it's quite colorful and attractive with the blanched broccoli and fresh tomatoes.  I changed up the cooking technique and the ingredients a bit to make it low calorie (or POINTS® friendly for those doing WeightWatchers®).

Ingredients:

• 2 whole large chicken breasts
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 cups fat free mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves (optional)
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub them with a small amount of olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and cover with tin foil. (No need f you use bone-in chicken) Roast for 35 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Dice the chicken in large bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, add the broccoli florets to a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook for 1 minute, until crisp tender, drain, and place into a bowl of ice water until cool. This will stop the cooking and set the bright green color.

For the dressing, whisk together the fat free mayonnaise, wine, mustards, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add enough sauce to the warm chicken to moisten well. Add the tarragon, broccoli, and tomatoes and mix gently to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

My thoughts:

This came out just as delicious as her full fat version. Note about dressing - the proportions in the dressing are good but you might not need all of it to coat the salad.  Start by adding half and coat, then add more if you think it's too dry.