Vietnamese Chicken Salad

This turned out so delicious, and it looks so nice when served, that I think it would be a great dish to serve to guests. Luckily, I got to eat most of it myself : ) I do have to say though, that the recipe was really made complete with Trader Joe's Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette, photo of the bottle at the bottom of this posting.

The original recipe is actually for pork tenderloin salad, so I am providing that version below because it looks real tasty, but I only had chicken breast in the house so what I did was bake the chicken breast with soy sauce. Plain soy sauce flavors chicken breast wonderfully, but the run-off sauce does burn in the oven. I suggest using foil so you can toss the burnt sauce when you're done.

Of all places, this recipe comes from Women's Health Magazine.

Vietnamese Pork (or Chicken, see above) Salad

Four servings, 300 calories each (without the TJ dressing)

• 1 (12 oz) pork tenderloin
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 T lime juice
• 3 T sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 T fish sauce
• 6 cups shredded cole slaw mix
• 1 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 3/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup lightly salted chopped peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Place pork on a foil-lined baking sheet; sprinkle with 1/8 t salt and cook until thermometer registers 160 F, 20 to 24 minutes. Leat meat rest for 10 minutes. Cut meat crosswise into four sections, then shred.
3. Place lime juice, sugar, and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap and microwave on high until sugar melts, 20 to 30 seconds. Let cool. Stir in fish sauce and remaining 1/8 t salt.
4. In a large bowl, gently toss coleslaw mix, scallions, and cilantro. Pour lime mixture over veggies, and toss gently. Divide evenly into four salad bowls and top with pork (or place on a serving platter as shown above). Top salad with chopped nuts.
5. As I mentioned above, I highly recommend serving with Trader Joe's Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette.