Mirko's Chicken Salad 

My reinterpretation of the famous Caesar's salad, crispy fried chicken strips on a bed of lettuce and rocket, parmesan shavings, sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and walnut kernels all topped with a stringy parmesan sauce that enhances and binds the flavour.

See also: Salmon Crust               See also: Veggie Muffin

Ingredients for 4 people

• Chicken 400g
• Iceberg salad one stalk
• Rocket 100g
• Cucumbers 2
• Dried tomatoes in oil 50g
• Walnut kernels 100g
• Parmesan cheese flakes 100g
• Frying oil 1lt

For the tempura

• Sparkling water 200ml
• Flour 00 120g approx. (tempura should be thick and sticky)
• Tempura/fry breadcrumbs or corn cereal 
• Salt and pepper various seasonings/chilli pepper/paprika/curry/etc (free choice)

For the Grana Padano sauce 

• Milk 1/2 litre
• Flour 50 g
• Butter 50 g
• Grated Parmesan 150g
• Garlic one whole large clove
• Salt, pepper and a teaspoon of vegetable stock cube powder (optional)

Procedure for the Grana Padano sauce

In a fairly large saucepan, melt 50 g butter cut into small pieces over a low flame with the whole peeled clove of garlic.

Once the butter has melted, add 50g of sifted flour and stir to create the "white Roux".

As soon as the mixture turns a light golden colour, add the milk (500ml) and whisk to avoid lumps and leave to cook for about 10 minutes.

When it comes to the boil, turn off the heat, add salt and pepper, a teaspoon of vegetable stock cube and 150 g of grated Grana Padano cheese. 

At this point remove the garlic cloves or make sure they are crushed with the minipimmer while making the sauce more homogeneous.

Let's prepare the tempura to bread the chicken, pour into a bowl 200ml of sparkling water and the spices salt and pepper paprika and chilli powder and 120g of white flour mix everything with a hand whisk, it must be semi-fluid and sticky to adhere better to the chicken.

Now cut the chicken into strips, dip it in the tempura and then in the dry cereals previously prepared in a bowl and then directly into the fryer or pan until it is completely golden brown on the outside, 4/6 minutes at about 180°.

The only thing left to do is to clean and cut the vegetables and then compose the salads with balance, making the crispy chicken stand out and garnishing everything with the Grana Padano sauce.