Greek Salad

DAY 15: PANERA BREAD

Greek Salad from Panera

One of the many things I love about Panera is the customer loyalty program, MyPanera. When you sign up, you'll start receiving email offers. Mine come every week or two and have included free smoothies, free beverages and coupons for discounts on salads. 

Today I had a coupon for $2 off a salad that was set to expire, so I headed to Panera for one of my favorites, the Greek Salad. Like all Panera salads, it's made to order with fresh, chilled ingredients and served with a hunk of fresh baguette.

Panera's Greek is very traditional. A generous bed of cold, fresh romaine lettuce is covered with sliced red onion, chunks of deep red tomato, pitted kalamata olives, several whole peperoncini and a liberal sprinkling of feta cheese.

Served with a flavorful, thick vinaigrette, it's a simple salad. But the way the ingredients combine together really satisfies me. The crisp lettuce, ripe but firm tomato, sharp onion, briny kalamata olives, spicy peperoncini and creamy feta work well with the rich, acidic dressing.

Although the dressing is thicker and creamier than most Greek vinaigrettes, it's salty and hints of oregano, just like the homemade salad dressing you might get down in the heart of Chicago's Greektown on Halsted Street—or better yet, on the island of Santorini. With a generous size and lots of flavor, it feels like much more than 350 calories.

In addition to wonderful taste and healthy ingredients, this salad has a reasonable price, only $5.99 without tax. It's one of Panera's café salads, which are vegetarian and on the lower end of the price scale. Like all Panera salads, you can add chicken or shrimp, but I'm always satisfied without adding protein.

With my $2-off coupon, Panera's Greek Salad was one of the better buys I've had since embarking on this adventure. I can't wait to see what reward MyPanera gives me next.

ITEM
Greek Salad

EATERY
Panera Bread at 250 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606

MENU DESCRIPTION
Romaine lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes, feta cheese, peperoncini, red onions, Kalamata olives, pepper & our Greek dressing.

CALORIES
380

COST
$3.99 before tax with $2-off coupon

RECOMMEND
Definitely

Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

Luncheon starter salad

DAY 3: HOMEMADE

I’m glad my rules give me the flexibility to eat something other than salad for lunch one day per week because I attended a luncheon for work today and entrée salads were not on offer.

There was a starter salad, but it was insignificant. There were just a few dried cranberries, a couple of fresh blackberries and three roasted cashews over a little pile of spinach leaves dressed with light vinaigrette. Although it was fresh, it was neither exciting to look at nor exciting to taste.
To make up for lack of adventure at lunch, I made a salad for dinner.

Since tonight’s salad was spontaneous, I didn’t have a bounty of fresh produce. So I played a game of refrigerator clean-out. Hence the name of my salad: Chicken RCO (refrigerator clean-out) Salad with Arugula.

Arugula is one of my favorite greens. I love the peppery flavor it contributes to salads, sandwiches, chicken Milanese, pizza…the list goes on. It must be a favorite of many others, too, because it’s been really hard to find lately. I can usually get it at Whole Foods or Dominick’s, but I’ve seen barren shelves nearly every time I shopped this past month. Luckily I found some Earthbound Farm organic baby arugula at Whole Foods last weekend, so I had it on hand tonight.


Prepped RCO ingredients

We’re avid grillers in my house. Consequently, there’s usually some sort of grilled leftover in the fridge. Tonight, I found some chicken and asparagus courtesy of Monday’s dinner.

Then I went through the jars that are usually pushed towards the back of the fridge and dug out some Cucina Viva roasted red peppers from Greece and a jar of Pagliacci Greek peperoncini. Opa!

In the produce bin, there was leftover diced onion from the brats we grilled last night along with a fresh orange pepper from last weekend’s farmers’ market.

I chopped the chicken, asparagus, orange pepper, roasted red pepper and peperoncini, then set those ingredients aside with the pre-chopped onion. I put a couple handfuls of arugula in a big bowl and dressed it with Garlic Expressions Classic Vinaigrette from Whole Foods, which is really healthy and flavorful. I plated the dressed arugula, then piled on the chopped chicken and veggies. I added a few cherry tomatoes from the produce bowl that I keep on the counter. And I topped it all off with a few O Organics Cheese & Garlic Croutons to add some extra crunch. (If you like your salad heavily flavored with dressing, you can drizzle some vinaigrette over the veggies and mix it in before you add them to the arugula. I don't mind a lighter flavor so I omitted this step.)

The end result, Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

With a blend of cooked and raw ingredients, the flavor profile of this salad was fairly complex. The vinegary peperoncini hit me first, with the roasted red peppers following closely behind. These flavors were balanced by the sweetness of the orange pepper, cherry tomatoes and Vidalia onion. The grilled asparagus added an earthy quality, and the chicken provided girth and substance. The peppery arugula held its own against those flavors, as did the garlicky croutons.

Although I would never enter this salad in a contest, it was a success—especially considering it was unplanned and built on the fly.

If I make this again, I’ll probably swap out the the peperoncini and asparagus for avocado and hard-boiled egg, and maybe I’ll add some feta.

Have you ever built an RCO salad? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

ITEM
Homemade Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

INGREDIENTS
Grilled chicken, chopped
Grilled asparagus, chopped
Roasted red peppers, chopped
Vidalia onion, diced
Orange pepper, diced
Greek peperoncini, sliced
Cherry tomatoes
Baby arugula
Garlic Expressions Classic Vinaigrette
O Organics Cheese & Garlic Croutons

DIRECTIONS
Assemble and chop, slice and dice all ingredients. Mix together. If desired, dress lightly. Set aside. Dress and plate the arugula. Layer all prepped ingredients on the greens. Top with cherry tomatoes and croutons.

PREP TIME
Under 10 minutues