If you’re looking for ways to give a healthier spin to some of your favorite dishes — or try some new ones in 2021 — take a look at Quick & Healthy: 50 Simple, Delicious Recipes for Every Day, published earlier this year by the American Cancer Society.
Paging through the cookbook, the recipe for Warm Balsamic Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese caught my eye. But instead of following the exact recipe, I chose to make the balsamic marinade for the chicken, also adding it to a mixture of fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese as a bruschetta topping. If you’re lucky, as I was, you might come across some bright red and juicy tomatoes at the market. Mixed with the basil, it’s a festive-looking dish, too!
The marinade has a surprise “secret” ingredient that I haven’t used before in a balsamic marinade — Worcestershire sauce. It turned out delicious!
This is the recipe as published by the American Cancer Society:
Ingredients:
- 4 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, flattened to an even thickness
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cups baby spinach
- 1/2 cup reduced-fat crumbled blue cheese
Directions:
- Place the chicken in a shallow pan. Whisk together the sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and water in a small bowl. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the vinegar mixture over the chicken and turn several times to coat, reserving the remaining vinegar mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Let stand 30 minutes or cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat both sides of chicken with cooking spray and cook 3 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink in the center. Place on a cutting board and thinly slice.
- Add the reserved vinegar mixture to pan residue in the skillet, stirring to release any browned bits. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil 2 minutes, or until reduced to 1/4 cup liquid.
- Place the spinach on a serving platter or in a large bowl and top with the chicken. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over and sprinkle with the cheese.
Other recipes in “Quick & Healthy” include Apricot-Glazed Chicken on Toasted Nut Quinoa, Skillet Turkey Shepherd’s Pie, Tilapia & Vegetable Packets with Rosemary Mustard Sauce, Ginger-Lime Grilled Salmon with Mango Skewers, Spinach-Provolone Baked Pasta, and Creamy Butternut Squash & Chickpea Soup.
Quick & Healthy: 50 Simple, Delicious Recipes for Every Day is available upon request for curbside pickup at Whitehall Public Library by calling 412-882-6622, or by requesting online, here.