Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the object of my recent affections:
Panera's Asian Sesame Chicken Salad. And no, I didn't take this photo. I found it on the internet. Anyway, this salad is delicious. I MUST HAVE IT. But it costs $6.99. I REFUSE TO PAY THAT MUCH.
A little bit of googling revealed several imitation recipes that looked terrible but one that looked pretty good. To no surprise, this salad's magic is all in the dressing. I tinkered around a little bit with the one I found and came up with this:
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil (the dark stuff)
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp lemon juice
2 packets of Splenda (4 tsp)
Whisk vigorously. If you want some more oil in there for some reason, add a little bit of vegetable oil to thicken it up, but it really does nothing for the overall experience and adds some calories. The end result is tart and fruity with a little bit of a toasty, nutty flavor from the sesame oil. For the rest of the salad,
Chicken (we used lemon pepper rotisserie)
Fresh cilantro (just a bit)
Sliced almonds
Chow mein noodles
Romaine (or spinach, my preference)
Seriously, this is good. I would say that it's g--d eats, but I don't want to get sued.
Looks good. Do you think that Splenda works better than regular sugar or is that just what you found when you were researching the recipe?
ReplyDeleteI imagine that regular sugar would work just fine. The original recipe had Splenda instead of sugar. They used a bit more, though, which made it too sweet.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanted to say that, I don't think Alton would mind.
ReplyDelete