Zupa's is one of my guilty pleasures. Did you know they don't post the nutritional information for their food on the website? When you click on the "nutrition" link, it redirects you to a page that says nutritional information is not available, but they make everything from scratch using the freshest ingredients. What kind of crap is that? Okay, good on you that you use fresh ingredients, but that does not help me when I'm trying to figure out what is low-cal, low-fat, low-carb or whatever else I'm going for.
So frustrating! That being said, I absolutely love their Pina Colada Chicken Salad. So yum. There's nothing in it that I can't eat, and that little chocolate covered strawberry they give you? Mmm, paradise.
I knew the salad part I could replicate, but I wasn't sure about a pina colada dressing. It seems simple enough - pineapple, coconut, probably some kind of vinegar - but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I found a recipe online that was incredibly complicated, but probably the closest thing to Zupa's. I wasn't about to go out and buy a coconut, crack it, pour out the water, chunk the meat - all for a salad dressing. Sorry, not going to happen. I found several versions of a pina colada dressing that were much simpler, but they all contained yogurt, and one contained a cup and a half of granulated sugar. Coconut and soy yogurts are stupid expensive, so save for the occasional indulgence I simply don't buy them.
Coconut milk, on the other hand... there's actually two kinds that I use fairly regularly. The most common is the So Delicious brand in the shelf-stable, asceptic packaging. The other is canned, full-fat coconut milk. I actually went through several variations of the dressing before I found one I liked. The full-fat coconut milk was the key. It's still fairly runny, so I tossed the dressing into the salad rather than drizzling it. So, so good.
You'll notice that I almost always use an edible acid when baking chicken, usually a fruit juice (lemon, lime, orange, etc). I don't understand the science behind it, but it does something to tenderize the meat. My partner at work told me about some exotic food from some other country where raw meat is "cooked" by marinating it in lemon or lime juice overnight and served. I'm sorry, but that just sounds disgusting. Marinating in acidic juice sure makes it tender, but I'm still going to bake it. :)
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 T. olive oil
1 can pineapple chunks in 100% juice, drained and juice reserved
1 can mandarin oranges in 100% juice, drained and juice reserved
Salt & Pepper
1 head green leaf or romaine lettuce (or mix of both)
4 T. shredded unsweetened coconut
4 T. chopped macadamia nuts
Dressing:
2 T. mandarine orange juice
2 T. pineapple juice
1 T. rice vinegar
2 T. honey
2 T. full fat coconut milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Poke holes in chicken breast with a fork. Put in a medium-sized mixing bowl, add olive oil, pineapple juice (reserve 2 T. for the dressing) and orange juice (reserve 2 T. for the dressing), then toss with tongs to coat. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes, but longer if you have the time. Remove from refrigerator and arrange chicken on a baking sheet lined with foil and coated with cooking spray. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until no longer pink.
While chicken is baking, shred lettuce and put in a large bowl. Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. When chicken is finished baking, remove from oven and transfer to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized chunks. Add chicken, pineapple, mandarin oranges and coconut to the bowl. Pour in a few tablespoons of the dressing and toss to coat. Transfer to serving plates and top with shredded coconut and amcadamia nuts.
Makes 2-4 salads, depending on how big you want them. :)
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