Sweet Onion & Fried Chicken Salad

Cookbook Category: Beef, Chicken, Beef, Salads

From the excellent Cooking with Texas Highways cookbook, this is no ordinary chicken salad.

1 large head leaf lettuce, or a combination of lettuces
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse-grind black pepper
1/3 cup milk
2 whole chicken breasts, halved, boned, and cut into 1/2-inch strips
1/2 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
salt
pepper
1 large sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Texas 1015 SuperSweet), thinly sliced

Arrange lettuce leaves, tomatoes, and mushrooms on 4 salad plates; set aside.

In a shallow bowl, mix flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt and coarse-grind pepper. Place milk in a separate bowl. Dip chicken strips into milk and then into flour mixture to coat. Fry chicken in hot oil on both sides for a total of 5 minutes or until golden brown. Drain chicken on paper towels, reserving drippings in pan.

Stir vinegar into drippings, scraping bottom and sides of pan. Pour vinegar mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in mustard. Add shallots and tarragon and season with salt and pepper; set dressing aside.

Arrange chicken strips and onion slices on top of salads. Serve with mustard-tarragon dressing on the side. Makes 4 servings.