Last week, I visited my local Barnes&Noble and raided their cooking section, oogling over all the wonderful cookbooks. Both wonderfully and unfortunately, I caved in and bought a Mediterranean cuisine cookbook that was hiding in the shelves. Unlike most medi books I've seen before, this one really does have dishes from all around the sea, not just select few places, so pretty much, it's a diamond in the rye for me at the moment!
This recipe was one from the cookbook, tweaked a little, and I'm pretty sure this was a serious selling point for my family. I can only assume that my dad 'might' like it, as he wouldn't be quiet about how good it was. Apparently he was going on about it still on my parents' way to yoga, which would total up to about an hour of "WOW".
Anyways, enough about the family, and onwards to the food!

Chicken & Chorizo Salad w/ Garlic Mayo
serves 4

Ingredients:

Salad

• 5oz chorizo sausage (the only kind I could find was fresh, which still worked out great, but already cooked is fine too)
• 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, ~6oz each
• 3/4 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, drained
• 3 pieces bottled, roasted red bell pepper, thinly sliced (or if you want to do it yourself, 1 whole red bell, cut halfway, seeded & veined, and roasted w/ olive oil, salt and pepper)
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves (Italian parsley works, just try against the curly)
• 1/3 cup toasted almonds (you can buy these pre-toasted, or get raw almonds and toast them yourself. It ain't difficult to do!)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 2 oz goat cheese (not shown, optional)

Garlic Mayo

• 1/2-3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:
1. Combine the mayo ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
2. Turn on stove to medium heat, in a medium-large skillet, cook the chorizo until thoroughly done, browned, and crisp on sides (don't worry about adding any oil to the pan first, chorizo is seriously oily so it doesn't need anything to help it from sticking). Remove the sausages from the pan when done, but leave the grease in the pan, drain sausages with paper towels.
3. Place the chicken in the same skillet (using the sausage grease as your seasonings and oil) and cook until done and browned. Covering the pan with a lid can help reduce oil splattering. When done, remove from pan, and let rest for at least 5 minutes to cool.
4. While the chicken is cooking and/or cooling, sliced the chorizo into thin slices, and combine the olives, bell peppers, parsley, almonds, onions, chorizo, olive oil, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Divide the salad amongst the serving plates/bowls.
5. When chicken is finished and rested, slice thinly and atop the salad. Spread a spoonful or two of the garlic mayo over the chicken.

Garnish with cracked black pepper, goat cheese, and lemon wedges.

One of my favorite things about this dish is just how easy it is to make, let alone the taste. I honestly didn't know how to feel or what to expect with the greens of a salad being completely parsley, but with it all tossed in the olive oil and lemon juice, it works perfectly. As a side note, this would be awesome as a pita wrap! Using the goat cheese or adding in some feta and parmesan to this would be great if you want a bit more to your dish.