Chicken Salad Basilico Recipe

Chicken Salad Basilico Low-Carb Gluten-Free Recipe

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I invented this recipe when my Organic Gardening God neighbor Keith brought me a huge bunch of fresh basil from his garden. Amazing!

Units Scale

1 garlic clove
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cauliflower head
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped olives-I used half black, half green, but use what you have on hand.
2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes-I used the packed-in-olive-oil kind
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup diced cooked chicken-I used part of a rotisserie chicken.
2 tablespoons pine nut (pignolia)-toasted
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

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Crush your garlic and put it in a small bowl. Add the olive oil, and let that sit while you assemble the rest of the recipe.
Trim the leaves and very bottom of the stem from your cauliflower. Cut it in chunks, and run them through the shredding blade of your food processor. Put the resulting “cauli-rice” in a microwaveable bowl, add a couple of teaspoons of water, and cover the bowl–I would use a cereal bowl covered with a sauce lid for this much cauli-rice. Microwave on high for 4-5 minutes.
Start dicing the onion, mincing the basil, chopping the olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
Somewhere in here, your microwave will beep. Uncover your cauli-rice immediately to stop the cooking. Don’t let it mush! Drain it and dump it in a mixing bowl. You want to let it cool a bit before you add the other stuff.
Dice your chicken–I used dark meat because I like it best, but use breast meat if you prefer.
If you didn’t buy your pine nuts toasted, stir them in a small skillet over low heat for a few minutes, until they’re touched with gold.
Okay, time to assemble your salad! Add the onion, basil, olives, tomatoes, and chicken, to the cauliflower.
Pour on the garlic-infused olive oil and stir everything up quite well. Add the vinegar, and stir it up again. Salt and pepper to taste.
Pile your salad on two plates–line ’em with a few pretty lettuce leaves first, if you like–and top each serving with 1 tablespoon each of pine nuts and Parmesan. Serve!