Chicken, Bacon, and Strawberry Salad

Strawberry Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup sliced sweet strawberries
• 2 Tbsp chopped shallots
• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp each kosher salt and black pepper

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Put in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one day.

Salad Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 cups mixed salad greens or baby spinach
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup crispy crumbled cooked bacon
• 1 heaping tbsp crumbled blue cheese
• All of the vinaigrette above
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the chicken breasts into a ziplock freezer bag and pour 1/4 of the vinaigrette over all. Mix all over, massage the marinade into the chicken, refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Grill or oven bake the chicken. I like to oven roast it in parchment paper - this method tends to steam all that fresh strawberry flavour into the chicken.
3. Let the chicken rest 10 minutes and slice lengthwise.
4. Mix the salad greens with the strawberries, almonds, bacon, and blue cheese. Add all but 2 tbsp of the vinaigrette and toss well. 
5. Divide salad equally onto to separate plates and place one sliced chicken breast onto the top of each salad. 
6. Drizzle each chicken breast with the reserved strawberry vinaigrette.