This Caesar-style salad, from Crave by Ed Smith (Quadrille, £25), is full of all the ingredients for a healthy workout recovery.
You need something filling that will restore your energy and rebuild your muscles after exercise. The problem is that a warm weather run or sweaty gym session halts your appetite (at least in the short term). The solution is this refreshing salad, the perfect way to refuel without feeling heavy while still packing in all the nutrients your body is secretly craving.
You’ll easily hit your protein goals with the lean chicken, while moreish potatoes are full of much-needed recovery carbs. Forget pale baby gem as the base – the addition of courgettes add extra fibre and flavour, while salty anchovies and parmesan become health foods as they restore your sodium lost in sweaty sessions.
Caesar-style salad recipe
Serves: 2
Total time: 1 hr 10
Ingredients
500g small, waxy new potatoes
2 chicken breasts, skin removed
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced
3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
1 romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
1 medium courgette
cut into 2mm discs
Leaves picked from 25g mint, finely shredded
Leaves picked from 25g flat-leaf parsley
Flaky sea salt and ground black pepper
For the dressing
4 salted anchovies in oil, roughly chopped
1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 egg yolk
½ tsp golden caster (superfine) sugar
1/3 tsp ground black pepper
20g (¾oz) parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to garnish
1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
Juice ½ lemon (from lemon above)
Method
Put the potatoes in a pan of cold water, add half a teaspoon of salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until just cooked through.
Meanwhile, use a heavy object like a rolling pin to bash and flatten the chicken breasts so that they are an even thickness of about 2cm.
In a bowl combine the lemon zest, half the lemon juice, one tablespoon of the cold-pressed rapeseed oil, half a teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of a pepper mill. Roll the chicken in this marinade and set to one side.
Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/425°F. Once the potatoes are just tender, drain and leave to cool (or speed things up under a cold-running tap). Spread the potatoes over a baking sheet and then squash them flat, while still keeping them intact – you could use a fish slice or similar, but I find the palm of my hand the best way. Drizzle with the remaining two tablespoons of cold-pressed rapeseed oil, then roast for a total of 35–40 minutes.
After 15 minutes, make space on the baking sheet and add the chicken breasts. Return to the oven for 15 minutes, then remove the meat and leave to rest on a warm plate, pouring any residual juices over the top.
Increase the oven temperature to 240°C/220°C fan/475°F to cook the potatoes for 5–10 minutes more, so their skins are crisp and golden.
While the chicken is cooking, make the dressing: put the anchovies and garlic in a pestle and mortar and pound to a paste. Add the egg yolk, sugar and black pepper and stir vigorously, then add the Parmesan.
Stir until well mixed, then drizzle in the rapeseed oil while stirring continuously. Once fully combined, add the lemon juice and stir again.
Decant into a large mixing bowl, add the lettuce, courgette and herbs and toss through so everything is coated.
Once crisp, generously salt the potatoes. Chop the chicken into strips, add them and their juices to the salad and mix.
Then transfer to shallow bowls, scattering the potatoes among the salad as you do so. Grate a little Parmesan over the top and serve.
Images: Sam A Harris
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