Chicken Salad With Berries and Lemon-Poppy Seed Dressing

Step 1

Make the dressing: Coarsely chop the light green and white parts of the scallions and set aside the dark green parts. In the pitcher of a blender, combine the oil, lemon juice, honey, lemon zest, mustard, salt and pepper with the chopped scallions and blend until smooth. Taste, and add more honey, mustard, salt and/or pepper, if desired. Stir in the poppy seeds. You should get about 1 cup of dressing. Make the salad: If using uncooked chicken, place it between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound it to an even 3/4-inch thickness. Transfer to a deep skillet and add enough water to cover the chicken by about 1 inch. Set the skillet over medium-high heat until the water comes to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to its lowest level, cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, with an internal temperature of 165 degrees, 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool slightly, then using your fingers or two forks, shred the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Use immediately or refrigerate until needed. In a small, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the sunflower seeds, stirring frequently, until fragrant and a shade darker, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a small bowl.

Step 2

When ready to serve, thinly slice the reserved scallion greens. In a large bowl toss the lettuces, fennel and shredded chicken with half of the dressing (about 1/2 cup). Divide among the serving plates and top with the blueberries, toasted sunflower seeds and scallion greens.