Summer Greek Chicken Salad

Good morning to all! Well I’m back after a wonderful week off, and re-energized. I had a great time on vacation and I hope all of you had a great week. Next week I’m going to make some changes to the blog, we have built a nice base of recipes so I’m going to slow it down to 2-3 recipes a week. We’re going to have more pictures, and little stories of how and when I came up with them. I’m also going to start having a guest recipe of the week; this will allow me to show case some baking recipes. I have never been much of a baker, but I’m sure a lot of you enjoy baking. So I got some help from one of my friends in the restaurant business. He has been baking since the age of 12, and has fantastic baked goods. Tomorrow I will post his Polish Flat Bread; he made it last week for us at the restaurant we work at, and it was delicious. Not only did I think it was good but everyone else thought so as well. So it promises to be a treat. Anyway, I digress let’s get started on today’s recipe, we’re going to have salad today. I always have salads as entrees for a few days after vacation, because well; I have been misbehaving while I was gone, and need to get back into some sort of normalcy. It’s great to be back, and I hope everyone is doing great, and now let’s get started. As always just have fun while cooking. Have a great day.

Thank You
Paulie

Summer Greek Chicken Salad

Chicken- 2 (boneless, skinless, breasts)
Olive Oil- 1 teaspoon
Chicken broth- 4 cups
Pearl Barley- 1 cup (uncooked)
Cucumber- 2 cups (cubed)
Grape Tomatoes- 1 cup (halved)
Feta Cheese- ½ cup
Red peppers- ¼ cup (small diced)
Yellow peppers- ¼ cup (small diced)
Kalamata Olives- ¼ cup (chopped, pitted)
Salt & Pepper- to taste

Method to the Madness

1) Season the chicken with the salt & pepper, in a nonstick skillet heat the olive oil over med-high heat; add chicken cook until browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add 1 cup of the broth and cook until done about 8 more minutes. Let the chicken cool and shred, discard the broth.
2) Bring the remaining broth to a boil; add barley, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 30-40 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Cool.
3) Combine all ingredients together except for the olives; use them as garnish.

Dressing

Olive oil- 4 tablespoons
Lemon zest- 1 teaspoon
Lemon juice- 2 tablespoons (fresh)
Basil- 1 tablespoon (fresh, chopped)
Thyme- 2 teaspoons (fresh)
Red wine vinegar- 2 teaspoons
Salt & Pepper- to taste
Garlic- 2 tablespoons (fresh, minced)

Method

1) Combine all ingredients together and toss well; add the salad mixture toss everything together well and chill. Garnish with the olives
2) ENJOY!!!!