Escarole, Roast Apricot & Chicken Salad with Fresh Herbs and Goat Cheese

The best way to coax flavor from store-bought apricots is to give them a little heat

Does anyone else plan their dinners around what they want to make for lunch later in the week? Just me? I realize this is kind of a backwards way to approach meal planning, but a lot of my dinner decisions are driven by what I want for lunch—and, specifically, what I want to have hanging around in the fridge to add to my salads.

This is especially true for proteins. I’ll often come up with a dinner that revolves around roast chicken—my Zuni-ish roast chicken, for instance—then make sure to buy an extra-large bird or an extra pack of thighs (bone-in and skin-on, always) so that I can have lots of flavorful meat to add to salads all week long. (Some of it also goes into making our tacos later in the week, but that’s a story for another week.)

Zuni-ish Roast Chicken Salad

When possible, I’ll also think about what goes into the chicken dish and add stuff I want for salads: tucking some onions or scallions under the chicken is a favorite way to set myself up for flavorful leftovers.

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This past weekend, when I decided to make a salad to serve my mom (who was visiting for a few days), I started by pulling out some leftover chicken, but they I also went the extra mile and cooked something specifically to add to a salad: roasted apricots. The idea of adding cooked apricots to salad came from a recipe in the Superiority Burger Cookbook that combines roasted apricots with cooked escarole and cornbread croutons. Cooking apricots is an ideal way to make use of the relatively bland fruit you get in grocery stores in the summer. It concentrates their sugars and flavors, and the browning adds a toasty marmalade-like note. And you don’t need to add any oil or seasoning: just pop them into a very hot oven (or toaster oven) and let them do their thing until they’re soft and starting to brown on the edges; the parts touching the baking sheet will be nicely cooked when they’re done.

Here, I leaned into escarole’s sturdy texture (and the fact that it’s delicious cooked) by adding the hot fruit directly into the salad. I also reheated the chicken a bit to make the whole dish feel a little heartier. Then I threw in some Persian cucumber for crunch, some fresh herbs from my garden to brighten everything up, and crumbled in some goat cheese for a creamy note. Lastly, I shook up a very classic French vinaigrette with champagne vinegar, Dijon, and olive oil. The whole thing took a little bit longer than usual for a salad (about 25 minutes) but far less time than making a nice lunch from scratch. And it was absolutely delicious.

Making this salad for a crowd

Escarole, Roast Apricot & Chicken Salad with Fresh Herbs and Goat Cheese

Amounts listed are per person

1–2 apricots, depending on size
½ small head escarole
1 roasted chicken thigh or ½ breast (or an equivalent amount of meat from anywhere on the bird)
Cucumber, ideally Persian or English
3–4 mint leaves
2–3 basil leaves
~1 tablespoon fresh goat cheese (chèvre)
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the apricots in half lengthwise, arrange them on a baking tray, and roast until they are well-cooked and starting to brown along the edges, 20–30 minutes, depending on how ripe the fruit is.

2. While the apricots are cooking, cut the escarole into 1”-wide strips and cut the strips in half or thirds. (If you haven’t yet, wash the cut escarole thoroughly as the inner leaves can hide mud.) Reheat the chicken in the microwave, if you like, and tear or slice it into thin strips. Slice the cucumber and cut the mint and basil into thin strips.

3. When the apricots are done, cut the halves into smaller pieces, if you like, and assemble the salad: Put the escarole into a bowl and pile the chicken and apricots on top; it’s fine if they wilt the lettuce a bit (escarole is lovely cooked). Add the cucumber, scatter the herbs on top, crumble the cheese over everything.

4. Combine the vinegar, mustard, and olive oil in a jar and shake them well, until the dressing is fully emulsified. Drizzle some of the dressing onto the salad and toss the ingredients together, then taste a leaf of lettuce and add more dressing as needed.

Other California Recipes to Cook This Week

If you’re looking to add some summery California flavors to your table this weekend, you’ve got lots of good options right here on Substack: Clare Langan just posted a gorgeous recipe for Sungold tomato risotto, Kristina Cho has a delicious-looking recipe for cold somen and warm beef noodle bowls, Nik Sharma has a stunning coconut-lychee granita, and Elizabeth Poett has a great chimichurri perfect for adding to barbecued meat (I’ve had it quite a few times, and it’s fantastic).

Photos: Georgia Freedman