chicken paillard with a pear & manchego salad
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Auguste Escoffier
15 min read
The paillard technique is a classic French culinary method, and Escoffier codified French cuisine and its techniques in the early 20th century. Understanding his influence helps contextualize why thin-pounded meat became a standard preparation in professional kitchens.
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Manchego
9 min read
Manchego cheese is a key ingredient in this salad. The Wikipedia article covers its protected designation of origin, the La Mancha sheep breed, aging classifications, and centuries of Spanish cheesemaking tradition that readers likely don't know deeply.
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Tahini
12 min read
The recipe features a tahini-based dressing, an ingredient with ancient Middle Eastern origins dating back 4,000 years. The article covers its production from sesame seeds, nutritional properties, and its role across cuisines from hummus to halva.
Today I wanted to give you guys an absolutely delicious salad that would be a delightful side on any Thanksgiving or holiday table, but that also makes a great entrée any ole weeknight with the addition of a protein.
We’re making a pear and manchego salad that has homemade candied nuts and a creamy apple cider tahini dressing. The salad’s amazing with any protein you have or are craving — steak, chicken, shrimp, tofu, a big old roasted turkey perhaps… — but my favorite protein pair for it is chicken paillard! If you’ve never cooked chicken paillard before, you’re in for a treat.
“Paillard” means “pounded thin” in French, and it’s a classic French cooking method in which you, yep, pound a piece of meat into a thin, even layer. We’ve never done a chicken paillard here at What To Cook because pounding chicken breasts seems like something you may not want to do when you don’t feel like cooking. However, it makes the chicken cook so quickly and uniformly (4 to 5 minutes total!) that while it’s more active cook time, it’s less overall cook time, which is sometimes the goal!
Cooking chicken paillard is a great skill to have and I’m excited to teach you how to do it today. In the recipe I tell you what to do, and beneath the recipe you’ll find a video in which I show you what to do. Watch it before you start cooking!
Like I said above, the salad is amazing with all types of protein. It’s also a delicious side salad all on its own — it serves 4 to 6 adults without the chicken. It would be an excellent option for a crisp green salad on your Thanksgiving table, or at any fall or winter potluck.
And once you’ve mastered the art of making chicken paillard, you can pair it with any side you’d like! I love it with roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, or frozen French fries (poules frites!).
I promise it’s not difficult! It’s definitely a hands-on, active cooking process, but every step is quick, and you’re going to be so impressed with yourself when all is said and done. You’ll have made candied nuts, a homemade salad dressing, a beautiful leafy green salad, and chicken paillard all from scratch — and all in under 40 minutes!
If cooking all of that sounds exhausting to you right
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