Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Salad with Griddled Courgettes

Quick and delicious - classic flavour combinations in a tasty salad that is ready in minutes.

Pop the griddle or grill on to heat up while you chop up your salad and shake up your dressing, and you can have this ready to eat in ten minutes or less.

Great for a light packed lunch too - just take your dressing in a separate little pot.

Serves one as a main, or two as a starter.

475 calories for a main portion, 238 calories for a starter.

Want to cut the calories? Leave out the avocado and take it down to 317 calories for a main portion.



For the salad

• 100g skinless cooked chicken breast (e.g. leftovers, or season, flatten and quickly griddle/grill from raw) [110]
• 3 slices pancetta style bacon (very thin, e.g. Sainsbury's) [38]
• 1/2 avocado (80g) [158]
• 1 small (or 1/2 large) courgette (130g) [23]
• 5 to 7 Romaine lettuce leaves, or 1 small baby gem lettuce (or leaves of choice, 80-100g) [16]
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered [16]

Salad dressing

• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard [8]
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard [4]
• 1 & 1/2 tsp cider vinegar [2]
• 1 tsp runny honey [16]
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil [41]

Dressing for the courgette

• 1 tsp lemon juice [1]
• 1 tsp olive oil [41]
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper [1]

A ridged griddle pan is best for cooking the courgette etc. if possible.

Method

1) Put the griddle or grill (broiler) on to heat up. On a large flat plate, drizzle the dressing for the courgette and 'smoosh' around, then sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Top and tail the courgette, and slice lenghthways into long slices about 3mm thick. Lay them onto the dressed plate, then turn them over so they have a light coating of the lemon and olive dressing on both sides.

2) Put the ingredients for the salad dressing into the bottom of a bowl big enough to hold your salad, and mix together. Put the courgettes onto the griddle (or under the grill/broiler) for a couple of minutes on each side while you chop the other ingredients.

3) Put the avocado, tomatoes and lettuce into the bowl with the dressing, once chopped. Cut the courgette strips into manageable lengths, add to the salad and toss everything together.

4) If you want to warm your chicken through, pop it onto the griddle on one side. Put the pancetta on the griddle, turning once or twice until cooked through and as crispy as you like it. Top the salad with the chicken and pancetta and enjoy!

Notes
If you can't get hold of pancetta style bacon, you could use a couple of slices of streaky bacon - just increase the calories by around 41 calories.