Balsamic Chicken Cutlet over Spinach Salad with Mushrooms, Bacon and Warm Shallot Dressing

By wpolumbo

Rachel Ray strikes again!

Ingredients

• Spinach Salad:
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast cutlets (sometimes marked "thin cut")
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, enough to just coat the breast slices
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, just eyeball it
• grill seasoning blend, or coarse salt and pepper
• 4 stems fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped, about 2 tablespoons
• 1 pound center cut bacon, chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound fresh spinach leaves, trimmed and cleaned
• 8 gourmet white stuffing mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 8 radishes, thinly sliced
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
• Dressing:
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball the amount, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 3 rounded spoonfuls Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Coat chicken with balsamic, oil, seasoning and rosemary and set aside. In a skillet, add chopped bacon, work in 2 batches if preparing salad for 4. Brown bacon over medium high heat, then transfer the bits to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Using center cut bacon will cut down on the pan drippings that splatter.

Coarsely chop spinach leaves and add to salad bowl. Top with mushrooms, radishes, scallions. Season salad with salt and pepper.

Wipe out the bacon pan and return to stove turning heat back to medium low. Add 1 tablespoon oil for your dressing and shallots and reduce heat to medium. Saute shallots for 3 minutes. Remove oil and shallots from heat.

In a bowl, combine mustard and balsamic vinegar. Stream in 2/3 cup oil slowly while whisking the dressing to emulsify it. Add warm shallots and toss with spinach salad to coat evenly. Add cooked bacon and toss again.

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken cutlets, 4 minutes on each side, in a single layer. Slice breasts on an angle on your cutting board once they are all out of the pan. Pile spinach salad on to dinner plates. Top each salad with 2 sliced chicken cutlet pieces.