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I love summer food and having to say goodbye to it is hard, but developing recipes that give you the feeling of a bright summer day makes all the difference. This chopped salad with citrus does exactly that. This salad is perfect for this time of year when you can get some lovely citrus and I personally am especially fond of clementines, so this salad makes my heart sing. The olives in this salad add a beautiful flavor to the recipe, and taste so wonderful with the pepperoncini and cherry tomatoes. Since this salad is Whole30, the beautiful hearts of palm offer an almost cheesy texture. If you’re not doing Whole30, you can certainly add some feta cheese!
The dressing also brings in the citrus season with this Creamy Clementine Dressing. It’s simple to make and it can even be made a day ahead! This makes putting the salad together even easier, and it’s perfect for meal prep. This dressing has the creaminess of a Ranch dressing but has the wonderful citrus flavors from the clementines and a hint of sweetness from the prunes.
The wonderful thing about recipes is how they evolve over time. As you make them, you find that your tastes change and evolve and so does your cooking. For instance, I originally made this chopped salad with citrus with iceberg but now find that it is too watery for this salad and that romaine (and arugula if using) compliments the creamy dressing and salad toppings much better. I found that I loved having the citrus notes in my dressing and on the chicken so much that I wanted to add clementines right in the salad — absolute genius! My advice is that you should always take recipes as the foundation for something great, but let them change along with you. They’re not set in stone!
Make the Creamy Clementine Dressing by making a homemade mayonnaise with notes of clementines with clementine juice and rind. The dressing is subtly sweetened with a couple of prunes. Magic!
The chicken breasts are coated in a spice blend and roasted over clementine slices then basted with pan juices and clementine juice! This salad is infused with flavor at every step.
Add your greens to a big bowl and sprinkle with salt.
Finish with Marinated Onions and the Creamy Clementine Dressing.