Salads will always be a wonderful thing, but in the winter months, we often crave something a little more hearty and substantial.  The perfect compromise therefore presents itself in the guise of warm salads – they’re a great way to get your essential daily vegetable fix whilst still retaining the health-promoting properties of raw-veg. And all in a way which delivers that all important ‘fill-factor’ – what could be better?

Another bonus of warm salads is that they’re a great way of using up leftovers. The chicken in this dish came from a roast chicken we had the day before that was too much for us to plough through in one sitting. Tried and tested principals of home economics dictate that the ‘spoils of war’ should always be recycled, and return to fight another day! The roast chicken was therefore no exception to the rule – if leftovers can stretch to another meal, then the cook has done their job!

All the ingredients here are low-carb; thus perfect for diabetics, ketogenic-dieters and those on a paleo-regime. If you have a gluten-intolerance or are coeliac; then you’ve equally come to the right place! There’s no wheat or other nasties which will leave you feeling bloated; just good honest old-fashioned low carb fare; all with a modern spicy twist!

Before I go any further, just a quick word about allspice. Please forgive me if I’m preaching to the converted, but this was once a gap in my own knowledge-base. I therefore feel honour-bound to save others from the same mistake which once ruined a ‘high-hopes’ recipe… Allspice is a berry, dried then ground into a powder. It is not a spice-mix, made up of generically blended ‘Christmassy’ spices, for use in mince-pies &tc. That is mixed spice! Sorry again if you already knew this; I shan’t mention it further. Consider yourself well & truly told!

Because this is a quick lunchtime dish or starter, this recipe for jerk-mix is a ‘tribute’ version for speed and convenience. For the full thing, check out the following hyperlink – Low Carb Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

Start by placing your chicken pieces (cooked or raw depending if leftovers or not) into a large mixing-bowl. Add half a teaspoon of garlic-powder, 1 teaspoon of dried chilli, 1 teaspoon of ground allspice, a tablespoon of lemon-juice, a teaspoon of dried thyme, and a heaped teaspoon of xylitol sweetener. Chilli always requires a bit of sweetness, so I’d always advocate the use of sweetener in such things! Mix these all together, then leave to stand whilst you prepare your other ingredients.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, then cook your quails’ eggs for 3 minutes. Then transfer these to a bowl of cold water to cool down to room temperature. If you don’t have quails’ eggs, you can equally use normal hens’ eggs. If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll realise I live slap bang in the middle of the countryside, where such things are readily available. I understand however that in other areas, such things may be more difficult to come by. I leave the exact ingredient-choice up to you therefore – the principals are the same! Once the eggs are cool, shell them and rinse in cool water.

Now we’re ready to cook our chicken. Heat a glug of oil and a little butter in a thick-bottomed pan, then add your chicken when the fat is piping hot. Cook until brown and caramelised on all sides; between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on whether you used fresh or raw chicken. Then remove the pan from the heat and set this to one side whilst you assemble your salad.

Finely slice half a yellow pepper, then layer this interspersed with your salad leaves into the centre of a serving-bowl. Slice your eggs in half and arrange these at intervals, then spoon your chicken all over the top with a generous hand! Pour any pan juices over the surface, then garnish with a squeeze of lemon and torn fresh coriander leaves.

Voila! Your delicious warm low-carb salad is ready. All in under 20 minutes from start to finish. I’ll wager it’ll be gone in half the time however!

Browse this and other recipes by picture on my pinterest page: country walks in ketosis pinterest.

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.