Salad - Smoked Chicken Arugula Salad


Arugula & Spinach, Avocado, Pear, Tomato, Hard Boiled Egg, Smoked Chicken, Cornbread Croutons, Buttermilk Lime Dressing.




I started with a basic 8:3:1:1 dry rub and ended up with a bit of a kitchen sink mix after going through the spice drawer. We've got Turbinado sugar, kosher salt, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, lemon pepper, dried rosemary, dried thyme, and homemade scotch bonnet chili pepper powder for a bit of extra kick.



Rub all mixed up and ready to be applied.



I've spatchcocked the chicken here. The backbone (on the right) has been cut out and will go into the freezer for a batch of stock another day. Laid out flat like this, the bird will cook faster and more evenly.



Applied a thin layer of oil and then a liberal amount of the dry rub to both sides.



Presoaking a bowl of apple wood chips for the smoker.



I just use a small electric smoker. It's easy to use and does a decent job. Started breast side down for the first 90 minutes before flipping over to get nice crispy skin. In at 235F until the temperature measured 160-165F - around 3.5 hours.



I went the lazy route and just used boxed cornbread mix. I'll at least jazz it up a bit with a couple of jalapenos. I'm also using buttermilk for the milk component. If you really want to go all out, you could fry up some bacon to crumble up into the mix and reserve some of the rendered bacon grease for the oil component.



Julienne first.



Dicey.



Try to remember to lube up your baking dish, otherwise it's a pain to get out of the pan. I forgot to document the crouton-making process. Just cut the cornbread into cubes, spread out on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil (or toss in a bowl if your cornbread is a bit more stale and structurally sound than mine was), and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes @ 250F, turning croutons halfway through.



And let's cook some eggs while we're at it, because this is a salad we're making here and apparently that means we have to do a whole bunch of cooking.



I used the dressing recipe from here - http://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/recipe-fried-green-tomatoes-with-buttermilk-lime-dressing/ minus the green onion and adding just a splash of cider vinegar. Science time - oil and fat don't mix. I guess I'll just have to emulsify them myself.