Quick Dinner, Favorite Gadget

I'm always in need of inspiration for quick weeknight dinners.  I know I'm not alone.  Last night we went back to an old favorite we hadn't had in a while, and I thought I would share it with you.

This is an adapted version of this recipe from Epicurious.  It calls for cabbage, which doesn't do much for me, and snow peas, but the cooking, trimming, chopping always took too much time, so now we skip them, or throw in some red pepper instead.  I love that I usually have most of these ingredients on hand, and just need to pick up a rotisserie chicken, and maybe scallions and cilantro on the way home from work.  (I should note that I forgot the scallions this time around, and we did without, but it's even better with them.)  I also love that there's no actual cooking involved, so less clean up.

Chinese Chicken Salad
serves 4

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup olive oil

1 rotisserie chicken, breast skinned and shredded with a fork
1 bag of romaine lettuce
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl, then add sesame oil and olive oil in a slow stream, whisking until well combined.  Toss chicken, scallions, cilantro, almonds, and sesame seeds (and, in this case, red pepper) with half the dressing. 

Side bar: I used to avoid recipes that called for chopping fresh herbs because it slows things down when you're in a hurry, but now I have a favorite tool that makes it super easy- the OXO Herb Mincer.  There are four blades and it only takes a few rolls in each direction to go from this:

 to this:

You should get one. 

Drizzle remaining dressing over the romaine, then mix in the chicken. 

Dinner is served.  (I'll work on taking prettier pictures.  It was delicious, despite how it might look.)