Roasted Chicken and Asparagus Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

I work for a catering company during the school year to make some extra cash. I love working there because I love being around food and because I always get to try the food and it gives me great ideas for myself. This past weekend, one of the items that they served as an appetizer was a chicken and asparagus salad over a cracker and I thought it was such a great idea and the salad was delicious. I was also really surprised because they used a vinaigrette instead of mayonnaise, which really made me happy because I hate creamy dressings and I especially hate mayonnaise.

I decided to make my own version of the salad. I bought a whole chicken and roasted it the day before and used the breasts for the salad. I saved the other meat and the carcass to make chicken soup for another day. I also added thyme and lemon to my salad to brighten up the dish.

Here is how I did it:

Roasted Chicken and Asparagus Salad 

Chicken and Asparagus Salad:
- Chicken breast from roasted chicken (you can find this recipe in my blog archives)
- 1 lb asparagus
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tsp thyme

Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- The juice of one lemon

Roast your chicken the night before in a 350 degree oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. Once it reaches 165 internally, remove from the oven and let rest. Remove the breasts from the chicken and place in a container and refrigerate over night. Save the carcass to make chicken broth.

The following day, boil a pot of water with salt. Cut the stems of the asparagus and place in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove the asparagus immediately from the water and place in an ice bath (water and ice cubes) to stop the cooking process. Pat the asparagus dry and set aside.

Remove the chicken breasts from the fridge and cut into 1/2-1 inch cubes. Do the same with the asparagus.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the Dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon juice together until fully combined. You can either use a whisk or a fork to bring everything together. Make sure to pour the olive oil in slowly so that your vinaigrette doesn't break.

In a large bowl, add the chicken, asparagus, lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper and mix. Pour the vinaigrette over the mixture and combine all of the ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

I served this chicken salad over a raison and walnut bread that I toasted lightly and spread goat cheese on top. I also added some mesclun salad and placed the chicken salad over top. The tartness from the cheese really pairs well with the salty vinaigrette and there is just a hint of sweetness from the bread. If you want to eat chicken salad but hate mayonnaise, I recommend you try this!