Dinner
Spinach, Wild Rice & Grilled Chicken Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Roast Garlic, Pear & Blue Cheese Dressing
Depending on your comfort level with the funkiness that blue cheese brings to dressings, look for the less potent cambozola instead of a true blue roquefort.
Updated
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 heads of garlic, tops removed
- 1 ripe but firm pear, peeled, stemmed and cut in half
- 1/4 cup canola oil (60 mL)
- 1 oz mild blue cheese, crumbled (30 g)
- ½ cup light sour cream (125 mL)
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (175 mL)
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce (2 mL) (optional)
Salad
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, grilled and cut into chunks
- 1 yellow sweet bell pepper, stemmed, cored and cut into thin slices
- 1 orange sweet bell pepper, stemmed, cored and cut into thin slices
- 2 cups baby spinach (500 mL)
- 1 cup cooked wild rice (250 mL)
- 1/4 cup shelled and salted sunflower seeds (60 mL)
Directions
Roasted Garlic & Pear
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Place each head of garlic in a heatproof ramekin. Drizzle each one with equals amounts of canola oil. Season each garlic head with salt and pepper. Place pear halves is a heatproof dish and drizzle with a little canola oil. Place garlic and pears into oven; bake pears for 30 minutes and garlic for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool.
Dressing
- Remove garlic heads from ramekins, reserving oil. Squeeze garlic heads into a mini-food processor and add reserved oil, pear halves, blue cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and hot sauce (optional): process until smooth.
Salad
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss salad to combine. Drizzle with dressing and mix to coat all ingredients. Divide equally between two dinner plates and serve immediately.
Nutritional Analysis
| Calories | 614 |
|---|---|
| Total Fat | 20.6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 208 mg |
| Sodium | 240 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 40.6 g |
| Fiber | 5.9 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 71 g |
| Potassium | 1648 mg |
