Birdie Salad

Portugal is known for its Port wine, but this sweet red wine isn’t just the perfect accompaniment to dessert. It also works well as an ingredient in Portuguese recipes, such as this “birdie salad” from Chef Monteiro of our cooking vacation in Portugal. This is a light dish made with the freshest lettuce and topped with seasonal produce, including avocados and cherry tomatoes, but it’s something that can be enjoyed year round.

Please contact us for details on this or any of our Portugal cooking vacations or our one-day classes in Portugal.

Birdie Salad

Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cook method: Grill

Ingredients:

• 1.75 oz (50 grams) Portuguese lettuce
• 1.75 oz (50 grams) red lettuce
• 1.75 oz (50 grams) radicchio
• 1 lb 4.5 oz (600 grams) chicken breast
• 1.75 oz (50 grams) cherry tomatos
• 14 oz (400 grams) avocado pear
•  1.75 oz (50 grams) honey
• 5.5 oz (150 grams) lime juice
• 0.5 oz (20 grams) mint
• 2.25 oz (70 grams) mayonnaise
• Dash of rock salt
• Dash of freshly ground black pepper
• 1.25 cup (3dl) olive oil
• 0.5 oz (20 grams) garlic
• 1.25 cup (3dl) Port wine

Instructions:

1. Marinate the clean chicken breast and avocado pear wedges in olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, crushed garlic, and a bit of salt.

2. Clean and separate the lettuce leaves.

3. Grill the chicken breast, let it cool down, and thinly slice it diagonally.

4. Grill the avocado pear wedges.

5. For the vinaigrette, add the honey and lime juice to the mayonnaise. Thinly chop the mint and add it to this preparation.
*
6. Check the seasonings for taste and fix, if necessary.

7. Reduce the Port wine in a pan with the honey to one-third.

Plating:

8. Place a mixture of each lettuce on the plate in a semi-circle shape.

9. Display the chicken breast slices on top of the lettuces facing the front of the plate.

10. On the right side of the plate, place two avocado pear wedges.

11. Season the dish with the vinaigrette.

12. Slice open the cherry tomatoes into four pieces and place them on top of the lettuce.

13. Drizzle the plate with the Port wine reduction.

You can explore more delicious Portuguese dishes during our Portugal cooking vacations, or try these tasty recipes at home:

• Oil-Poached Salt Cod
• Chicken with Green Asparagus Risotto
• Iberian Pork Tenderloin Confit

By Peg Kern

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