With all of this beautiful sunshine that we have been having in the UK I’ve been craving more lighter and summery foods. In the hotter months salads are a staple for me and I often find myself making one for dinner.
Every other weekend I roast up a free range chicken to have for Sunday lunch and it then does us for a few meals in the week too. After roasting the chicken this weekend it was crying out to be added to a salad as an alternative to a traditional Sunday roast dinner.
![IMG_6241[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_62411.jpg "IMG_6241[1]")
Ingredients (vegetarian option available)
2 cups if romaine lettuce leaves
3 chopped sundried tomatoes
2 tbsps of olives
1/2 cup of cooked roasted chicken breast
1 cup of roasted kabocha squash
roasted onion (optional)
![IMG_6244[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_62441.jpg "IMG_6244[1]")
Take the breast from a roasted chicken and roughly cut into cubes. Prepare the other salad accompliments and assemble them on a plate. The roasted onions used in the salad are those that I stuffed inside the chicken to add some extra flavour.
The dressing that I made to go on the salad was a simple honey and mustard dressing which cuts through the sweetness of the squash and the saltiness of the olives quite well.
![IMG_6235[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_62351.jpg "IMG_6235[1]")
What I love about this salad is how versatile it is, you could add any leftover meat that you have left in the fridge and it would work fabulously with fish too. Obviously, this salad can easily be made vegetarian by adding marinated and pressed tofu or even vegetarian sausages.
![IMG_6237[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_62371.jpg "IMG_6237[1]")
A fresh, bright, healthy and tasty salad with a zingy dressing to boot…
![IMG_6242[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_62421.jpg "IMG_6242[1]")
![IMG_6241[1]](https://drjemma.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_624111.jpg "IMG_6241[1]")
…I think I’m definitely ready for the summer now!
What kind of foods do you crave in warmer weather?
love the idea of roasting a chicken every other week, I’d love to be able to buy an organic one once a week but it’s just not affordable for us at the moment so that sounds like a nice compromise! x
It does get expensive so I think every other week works best for my budget.
Yum, salads are a firm favourite of mine all year round 🙂 I also crave much more fruit in warmer weather, and of course ice cream!
Ice cream is a must in warmer weather 🙂
I don’t know why I’ve never thought to add roasted squash to my salads! that sounds great!
Squash goes with everything 🙂
This salad sounds fabulous, and I am loving all of the colors! I need to try making this, but with seitan in place of the chicken! Thanks so much for sharing :).
Seitan would also work perfectly!
That looks incredible Jemma – as usual! So bright and full of colour 🙂
Thanks Claire!
What a gorgeous salad! Definitely perfect for the warmer weather. I’d love to say that I crave fresh fruit and cold smoothies when the weather turns warm, but the truth is that I crave those things in the dead of winter as well lol.
I have a thing for smoothies and frozen fruit even in the cold too. 🙂
Love the sound of this. Really need to buy some sundried tomatoes as they are just heavenly. And definitely have the bug of wanting to cook whole chickens more often!
I love how sweet sundried tomatoes are, so yummy!