Warm Napa Cabbage Salad
with Grilled Chicken
APRIL 2018 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM 61
Chef’s
by Suzanne Nott, adapted from Town Restaurant
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
• 2 cups croutons (store purchased is fine)
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chopped shallots
• ½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 cup canola oil
• 8 slices bacon
• 1 pound of medium-sized mushrooms (Button or
Crimini)
• 6 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (plus a little extra for
garnish, if you like)
• 1 large Napa cabbage, room temperature
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Cooked grilled chicken strips (if you want)
DIRECTIONS:
For the vinaigrette, add the vinegar, shallots, pepper, and
mustard into a blender. Then, with the speed on high,
slowly add the canola oil until the dressing emulsifies.
Set this aside (you will probably only need half of the
vinaigrette for this recipe).
Chop the cabbage, cross-wise, in 1/4 inch slices and set
aside. Thinly slice the mushrooms and set aside. Cut the
(Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a side)
bacon slices into 1/4 pieces.
Place your large skillet over medium-high heat and add the
bacon and cook until well-browned, maybe 10 minutes or
so. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon
and reserve about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Add the
mushrooms and cook until slightly browned, about 3-4
minutes. Place the bacon back in the pan.
You have to move quickly, add half of the vinaigrette to
the pan and let it warm, about 1 minute. Immediately add
the blue cheese, the croutons and all the cabbage and toss
until the cabbage is just warm and the blue cheese softens
but isn’t completely melted, about 30-45 seconds. Remove
from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a dash of
extra dressing, if needed.
Serve immediately on warm plates. If you would like,
put grilled chicken strips on top and garnish with extra
crumbled blue cheese.
NOTE: If you don’t have a skillet large enough to fit the
cabbage, you can use a large metal salad bowl. Be sure to
use oven mitts, add all of the warm ingredients to the bowl
with the cabbage. Hold the metal bowl over the stove and
toss the cabbage until warm, about 30-45 seconds.