1cuproasted chicken thigh meat. Bone-in, skin-on.shredded, with skin removed and set to the side
1teaspoonsmoked paprika
½avocado
¼ cup goat cheese I like silver goat
fresh dill to garnish
Cucumber Salsa:
½cup diced cucumberfinely diced
2teaspoonpickled red onion chopped
¼ cupgreen olives (I like the garlic stuffed olives)
2teaspoonfresh dillchopped
2teaspoonfresh lemon juiceplus some for the arugula salad
2tsp olive oil
black pepper to taste
For the Arugula Salad:
1 cuparugula
1tablespoonlemon olive oil
Saltto taste
pepperto taste
Instructions
Cooking the Crispy Chicken Skin:
Gently remove the skin from the chicken thigh. (You may need to warm the chicken slightly to remove the skin cleanly, if you are using leftover chicken.)
Add the skin to a nonstick skillet or well seasoned cast iron pan over medium heat.
Allow the skin to slowly crisp up, flip after 5 minutes or once the skin begins to crisp and turn golden brown. (If medium heat is too high, reduce to medium-low)
While the skin is crisping shred the chicken meat and in a small bowl toss with smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Set aside for later.
Continue to check the chicken skin and keep flipping every couple minutes until the skin is nice and crispy. Set to the side on a cutting board or small plate.
For the Cucumber Salsa:
Finely dice the cucumber, olives, red onion and dill.
Add diced veggies to a small bowl, season with lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper. Mix well and set to the side.
For the Arugula Salad:
In a medium bowl add arugula, lemon juice, lemon olive oil (or lemon zest and regular olive oil if you don't have lemon olive oil on hand) salt and pepper.
Toss well and set to the side.
P L A T I N G (You can also just stack without the mold if you like)
On a salad plate or low pasta bowl place a round ring mold or cookie cutter about 2.5 inches in diameter.
First Layer: Diced avocado and place ½ the avocado on the bottom of the ring mold
Second Layer: Using a spoon, add ½ the cucumber salsa evenly on the top of the avocado and gently press down with a spoon. Careful not to press too hard.
Third Layer: Add ½ the goat cheese evenly on top of the tapenade.
Fourth Layer: Add ½ the chicken meat gently pressing down trying to fit all the chicken meat into the mold.
Slowly remove the mold while holding the chicken stack down to ensure the salad ingredients stay stacked.
After the mold has been removed, top with ½ the arugula salad, crispy chicken skin and garnish with fresh dill.