Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad

 
This weekend, the weather in Denver took it easy and stopped the nightly thundershowers for 2 evenings. This meant that grilling season was once again open, but it also meant there was no break from the 90+ºF heat. Since I'm not usually all that hungry in hot, muggy weather, I thought it would be nice to make a filling salad for dinner. I wanted something with some protein, but didn't feel like anything heavy.

My mom recently brought over the August edition of Real Simple magazine and it is filled with great salad ideas. Although I make salad often, I have never experimented with the types of salad dressing in the magazine. In this grilled chicken and corn salad, the dressing relies on rosemary for flavor, which is not an herb I typically think of putting into a salad. There's also a strong garlic flavor to accompany the rosemary, so for me, it was a great dish. I usually stick with basil, cilantro, or parsley to flavor a salad dressing, but I love this variation. If you're not into garlic flavors, cut back on the amount of garlic cloves you use. Also, if you don't feel like grilling meat, you could pull apart half a rotisserie chicken and the salad would still be good.

Recipe from Real Simple August 2011
Serves 4

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil (plus extra for chicken and corn)
3/4 teaspoon salt (plus extra for chicken)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (plus extra for chicken)
2 6-ounce (170 gram) chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
3 ears of corn, shucked
5 ounces (140 grams) baby spinach or watercress (about 5 cups)
1 avocado, cut into bite-size pieces
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved

In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, rosemary, garlic, 4 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil. Rub the corn with a little bit of oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. If you prefer grilling your corn in the husk, skip this step and grill as you normally would.

Heat a grill to medium-high heat. Grill the corn and chicken until both are cooked through (the corn will be lightly charred if you shucked it).

Cut the kernels off the corn cobs. In a bowl, toss the corn, chicken, spinach, and avocado with the salad dressing. Top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Pin It Now!