Aspen Village Chicken Salami Salad

Aspen Village Chicken Salami Salad is an entree salad with roasted chicken breasts dusted with just the right chile powder, and finished with just the right creamy Southwestern dressing. With avocado, it will remind you of an Italian Chopped Salad that has taken a Winter trip South of the Border.

Ski-Dreaming:

Picture yourself in front of the roaring fire, eating this hearty Chicken Salami Salad and sipping on a glass of crisp Pinot Gris. Perfect after a day on the slopes, don’t you think? Whether you’re a ski bum or not, everyone needs a Winter Salad Recipe. Bright, fresh, green and hearty, a perfect combination for when you’re convinced that it will never be warm again.

Cold and refreshing, this is a salad that will guide you through those cold months when gray days and heavy socks have lost their charm.

I hate to talk calories…but…

This salad does not fit into the usual category of eating a salad for the reasons that we should eat a salad. The words fiber and swimsuits come to mind. This is more of a main course salad (ignoring all of our earnest healthful intentions) that includes ingredients like cheese, salami and briny olives. Throw in an insanely good creamy dressing that includes mayonnaise and sour cream and we’re in hearty heaven.

The creamy dressing steals the show for this recipe. A mixture of mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, dry mustard, cumin and green chile sauce , made with roasted Hatch Chile = divine, creamy and exciting in flavor. Or Homemade Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is also delicious in this dressing.

Wine-Talk

While attending Culinary School at Cook Street, we spent 1 month of intense wine training. Learning about the wine regions of the world, the food that inspires the wine, the wine that inspires the food and tasting…tasting…and tasting. With that training I feel comfortable recommending a wine to you now and then.

Working on the theory that a Pinot Gris would pair nicely with an Italian Salad with Salami and Mozzarella, I would also recommend it would be nice to wash this salad down with the same. And an Oregon Pinot would be a good choice. The spiciness of a Pinot Gris would fit the profile of the salami.

And speaking of Italian Salads, I used sticks of Monterey Jack Cheese for this salad, but you could substitute mozzarella to pick up more of an Italian Chopped Salad vibe.

So, if you’re looking for entree style dinner salad recipes, I hope you give this Colorado version a try. This recipe comes from the first in a series of our Denver Junior League Cookbooks, Colorado Cache.

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Aspen Village Chicken Salami Salad

Aspen Village Chicken Salami Salad is an entree salad with roasted chicken breasts dusted with just the right chile powder, and finished with just the right creamy Southwestern dressing. With avocado, it will remind you of an Italian Chopped Salad that has taken a Winter trip South of the Border.

Course: Main Course Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 head Romaine Lettuce washed
• 2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts roasted
• 6 slices salami cut into wedges
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Chile Powder Preferably New Mexico
• 6 strips Monterey Jack Cheese or Mozarella
• 1 Avocado peeled and cut into wedges, or cubed
• 8 yellow cherry-style tomatoes sliced in half
• 8 pitted ripe olives drained
• For the dressing:
• 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
• 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 Tablespoons Roasted Green Chile Sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a casserole dish, place chicken breasts, sprinkle with chile powder and roast 20 – 30 minutes. (depending on size)

2. In the meantime, in a medium size bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dry mustard, garlic salt, cumin and Green Chile Sauce. and mix well with a fork, all ingredients for the Green Chile Cumin Dressing. 

3. For each salad, arrange one large outer leaf of Romaine Lettuce on each plate.  Finely chop inner leaves and arrange on top of outer leaves.

4. Cut chicken breasts into strips and place on lettuce. Add cheese, salami, avocado and olives. Cover and chill.

5. At serving time add cumin dressing.

Recipe Notes

If you want to forego the process of making homemade Green Chile Sauce, a great jarred product to pick up at the store is Jardines Tomatillo Salsa. Quality product with great flavor. I’ve included an Amazon Affiliate Link for your convenience.