Puy Lentil Chicken Salad with Apple and Hazelnuts
Photography Josh Griggs.
Puy lentils are my go-to base for a range of salads. This one’s topped with tender chicken, juicy slices of apple and crunchy hazelnuts with a tangy mustard dressing.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
4 single chicken breasts, skin on
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
oil and butter, for cooking
1 cup puy lentils, cooked
2 cos lettuces, cut into wedges through the stem
1–2 braeburn apples, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
400 grams assorted greens – choose one or a selection of green beans, snow peas and sugar snaps, blanched
⅓ cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Dressing
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and ground pepper
METHOD
Dressing: Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl and season.
Salad: Season the chicken on both sides and sprinkle with caraway seeds.
Heat a little oil and butter in a sauté pan and cook the chicken until fully cooked through. Set aside.
Toss the lentils with 2 tablespoons of the dressing and season generously with salt and pepper.
To serve: Divide the lentils between plates. Top with the lettuce wedges, apple, the green vegetables and sliced chicken.
Drizzle the dressing over the top, then scatter with hazelnuts and a grind of pepper.
Pantry note: Puy lentils are a small dark green lentil with a slight peppery flavour and hold their shape during cooking. They are the only lentil to be identified by area of cultivation – grown in the Le Puy region of France. To cook, cover with plenty of cold water, bring to the boil and cook until just tender but still with a little bite. Drain and rinse under cold water then drain well.
Keep up to date with
dish weekly recipes,
food news, and events.
Related Content
latest issue:
126
We start by sharing what’s on the dish team’s radar, what we’re watching, listening to and reading. Harry Butterfield puts a twist on his Nonna’s agnolotti, Malissa Fedele reminds us of the importance of fibre, and Phoebe Holden fulfils a long-held dream, sitting down with Yotam Ottolenghi. Autumn is an abundant time, we make the most with pumpkin, kūmara, cabbage, cauliflower, feijoas, apples and pears. We’re dishing up dinners for two, including a Chicken Dumpling Lasagne, alongside easy weeknight meals. We honour our mums, revisit timeless classics, and add a little baking challenge. This issue, we encourage you to slow down, to enjoy writing your shopping list, and spending time in the kitchen. Because even when life feels relentless, there’s always space to share something delicious.