Recipes - Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

* 10 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (from about 3 purchased roasted whole chickens)
* 2 cups roasted red and yellow bell peppers, drained, patted dry, and coarsely chopped
* 1 1/4 cups paper-thin slices red onion
* 3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
* 3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
* 1/2 cup drained capers
* 1 1/2 cups (about) Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 24 butter lettuce leaves (from about 3 large heads)
* 1 (4-ounce) piece Parmesan, shaved with vegetable peeler

Directions

Toss the chicken, bell peppers, onion, parsley, almonds, and capers in a large bowl with enough vinaigrette to moisten. Season the chicken salad with salt and pepper, to taste.

Arrange 1 large lettuce cup and 1 small lettuce cup on each plate, overlapping slightly. Spoon the chicken salad into the lettuce cups. Drizzle more vinaigrette over the salads. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve.

Do-Ahead Tip: The chicken salad can be prepared 4 hours ahead and refrigerated. Just before serving, spoon the salad into the lettuce cups.
Red Wine Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup olive oil

Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually add the oil and blend until emulsified.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Notes: This chicken salad is BANGIN. i couldn't believe how good this tastes. I 2/3rd the recipe. I only used 2 roaster chickens and i probably could have just used one, but i do like left overs and its a good snack food. Protein and healthy fat (olive oil & almonds) to fill you up. No starches.. yippeee!

Capers are cheaper at trader joe's than the regular grocery store. But the regular grocery store is where you want to go for the roasted red peppers. At shoprite i got a 24 or 28oz jar for 2.99. Cheap! They had even bigger jars but i was afraid i wouldn't use them quick enough (they do spoil as they're not packed in vinegar)... but i did end up using more than half the jar for the about 2 cups i used. always a good item to have on hand because of its big flavor and its ease of use.

i would definitely make this over and over again. Quick, but not super quick cause u have to pull apart the roaster chickens.