Sesame Chicken Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing

Recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten from Food and Wine Magazine

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup Ginger Lime Syrup (recipe below)

2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 Hass avocado—halved, seeded and diced
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
6 radishes, thinly sliced
Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Freshly ground white pepper
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 bunch of watercress (6 ounces), thick stems discarded

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a small bowl, combine the Ginger-Lime Syrup with the vinegar and soy sauce.

In a medium bowl, lightly mash the diced avocado with a fork. Fold in the lime juice and 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Season the avocado lightly with salt.
In a medium bowl, toss the radishes with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and season with salt. Refrigerate the radishes.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and white pepper. Spread the sesame seeds in a shallow dish and press the skinned side of the chicken breasts into the sesame seeds to coat.

Set a large, ovenproof skillet over high heat until very hot. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and heat until smoking. Add the chicken breasts, sesame-coated side down, and cook over high heat until the sesame seeds are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake the chicken for about 5 minutes, or until just cooked through.

Dollop the mashed avocado on plates and top with half of the radish slices. Set the chicken breasts on top and garnish with the remaining radish slices and watercress sprigs. Drizzle the ginger dressing on top and serve.

Ginger-Lime Syrup

Makes 1 Cup

Ingredients
4 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (1 cup)
1 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup sugar

Directions
In a small saucepan, combine the ginger, lime juice and sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Let cool to warm, then puree in a blender. Pour the puree into a fine strainer and press on the ginger to extract as much syrup as possible.

Here is what Todd said about dinner tonight, "This is one of those meals that if it were on the menu at a restaurant I would go a lot and always look forward to ordering this." Well guess what Todd, you can have it at home!