Cook to Feel Better: Chicken and Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Basil

Oftentimes, cooking is one way I express my joy in my life. But there are other times when cooking lifts me up out of a sad mood or a tough time, even if just for a little while, by giving me focus and purpose. It was with this latter mentality that I went into making this salad.

I won’t go into all the details—this is not a tell-all blog, and there isn’t much at all to tell. You know it: there’s just days when you don’t feel so great. So I took some time to lie down, talk to Thomas, and look at cute pictures on Instagram. It was my turn to cook dinner, but Thomas offered to order some Thai food instead (side note: he’s the best) and I was tempted to take him up on his offer. But something made me reconsider. “I want to cook,” I said.

I went into the kitchen and started slicing chicken, which I put in a skillet sizzling with olive oil. I cut half a baguette into cube-like pieces (it’s not as if any were perfect squares—let’s be realistic, people), tossed them with olive oil, and put them in the oven to toast. Just the smell of fresh bread and olive oil brought some peace—it reminded me of downtown Seattle restaurants where they serve good bread with olive oil and balsamic for dipping. What a revelation that was, the first time that simple delicacy was placed in front of me.

I mixed together a basic olive oil, garlic, and red wine vinegar dressing. Then I sliced basil, breathing in the familiar, delicious scent. I sliced little grape tomatoes in half, and alongside the basil, they looked like the jewels of summer. This combination goes beautifully with the toasted bread, crunchy and crisp (and now you have a recipe for homemade croutons!). The chicken makes this salad a dinner rather than a side, but it could easily be replaced by (or supplemented with) pieces of fresh mozzarella, to complete the caprese trio.

Once we sat down to dinner, I felt a sense of relief—not that my mood had changed completely, but I’d engaged my mind in something positive and, as a result, was reminded of one of the many good things in my life now. Being myself means being sad when I’m sad, but also enjoying everything that makes it great to be me.

Chicken and Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Basil
Adapted from Canal House Cooks Every Day

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts (about 1.5 pounds total), cut into bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups bite-size baguette pieces (or other artisan bread)
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
0.6 ounces basil leaves, sliced thin
10 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
2. While the chicken cooks, toast the bread: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the bread pieces in a large bowl with 5 tablespoons olive oil. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
3. To make the dressing, combine the garlic, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl. Whisk well to combine.
4. In the same bowl you tossed the bread in, combine the chicken, toasted bread pieces, basil, and cherry tomatoes. Pour the dressing over and toss well to coat.

A win for fall: Squash salad with rice, pistachios, and pomegranate seeds

Fall is the season of squash, but even my beloved squash needs revamping every year. Pomegranate seeds and pistachios are lovely salad ingredients, and not so common that the sight of them induces an “I’ve seen it all before” type of reaction at the dinner table.

The original recipe (from Bon Appetit) called for a combination of black and wild rice for the base of the salad, and while I’m all for trying new grains (which was the purpose of the collection this recipe appeared in), I wasn’t in the mood to go looking for black rice. So I opted for brown rice instead, which we always have on hand. We used a delicata squash, a generous gift from Thomas’s parents’ garden, instead of a butternut.

From the same garden, we also picked some chard, and that went into the salad in place of the suggested microgreens—because it’s fall, for goodness’ sake, and we need hearty greens to sustain us. You can sauté the chard with or without its colorful stems; just be sure to cook it a bit longer than the recipe says below, if you are keeping the stems in. Or substitute the chard for another green, like kale, bok choy, or spinach.

Tying together the myriad flavors of this salad—the squash, pistachios, pomegranate, chard—is a dressing composed of honey, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. I was happy to use some of our fresh honey in a savory dish (mainly we’ve just been drizzling it over biscuits), and the mixture of sweet and tart, leveled by the olive oil, makes this dressing something to consider beyond this recipe, for other salads, during other seasons.

But right now, it’s fall, and the parade of squash and chard is well underway. With each season, I like to bring in a bit of the new with the old standbys. I’m sure this salad is destined to be a fall favorite.

Squash Salad with Rice, Pistachios, and Pomegranate Seeds
Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 delicata or butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and cut into cubes
½ cup plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 ½ cups uncooked brown rice
1 bunch chard, leaves separated from stems (if desired) and coarsely chopped
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
2 green onions, diced
1 cup pomegranate seeds (the seeds from one pomegranate)
½ cup shelled pistachios

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread squash cubes on a baking sheet. Drizzle ¼ cup olive oil over squash. Bake squash for 10 minutes. Gently stir the squash on the sheet, then cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, until soft.
2. While the squash bakes, cook the rice: In a medium-sized saucepan, bring 4 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add rice, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until all of the water is absorbed and the rice is fully cooked.
3. In a medium skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Add chard leaves to skillet and sauté until just tender.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together red wine vinegar, honey, and ¼ cup olive oil until well combined (the dressing will be pinkish-red in color).
5. Add the cooked squash, chard leaves, green onions, pomegranate seeds, and pistachios to the rice. Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss to combine.