Close enough...

Recently, I fell in LOVE with Panera’s Asian Chicken Salad.  I am afraid that I have been rather boring for way longer than I like to admit.... always ordering the very same thing each and EVERY time I went to Panera.  (Smoked Turkey on Sourdough with French Onion Soup)  I figured that as few times a year as I got to Panera, why fix what wasn’t broken?  Right?  Well, a couple weeks ago I ended up at Panera twice in one week (HIGHLY unusual) and it spurred me on to be brave and try something new!  Actually, Jennifer helped me a bit by (ever so sweetly of course) pointing out that perhaps it was TIME ALREADY for me to expand my Panera horizons.  :)

Thankfully, I took her advice and ordered the Chicken Salad on Sourdough and the Asian Chicken Salad.  (Thank goodness for the “You Pick 2 Deals”!!!)  :)  WOW!!!   I couldn’t believe what I had been missing!  That Asian Chicken Salad was unbelievable!!  I literally savored every bite - trying to figure out exactly WHAT was in that dressing!  It is quite unusual and unlike any I have had anywhere else.  I assumed I would be able to come home, google it and find the recipe online somewhere.  Little did I know that there are many desperate people online trying to figure out this exact dressing!  I did finally, get pretty close to the right recipe, I think, thanks to the help of an online friend, Ginger.  I say close, because I tried it tonight and it wasn’t quite right.  However, I am not totally sure that it was because of the recipe itself.  The recipe called for Sesame Oil (NOT the toasted kind) and I definitely had the toasted kind - and the dressing just wasn’t right.  I am thinking I will try that recipe again sometime with a better quality sesame oil - it really could be THE ONE!  (Thank you again, Ginger!!!)

But, for tonight, I did manage to fix a really, yummy substitute Asian Chicken Salad - complete with a pretty good dressing that I melded together from a couple different online recipes. (primarily Pioneer Woman’s dressing for her Asian Noodle Salad - which is also on my “make” list.)

All in all, I thought this was quite yummy and I can’t wait to have it again.  In fact, just looking at my photo of it above is making me crave more right now!!!!!  The rest of my family?  My meat and potatoes guys?  Well.... Marvin rated it a “5”.... on a scale of 1 - 10.   :)   Jonathan wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole - Jackson did try the chicken all by itself and said it was pretty good.   :)   Oh well..... They can always have peanut butter and jelly, right?  Sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!  YUM!

By the way, Asian Chicken Salad is the most recent entry on my Recipes page.  You can click here to see the full recipe. 

3 Comments

aggiemacs
Oooh! That salad does look yummy! I have never eaten at Panera's before. We have them here in Texas. I've just never been there. Your post makes me want to go!

BTW...thanks for the recommendation on Pocketful of Pinecones. I'm going to definitely read it!
Friday, April 11, 2008 - 08:41 AM

Donna
Looks really good, Laura. I wished we lived closer so you could invite me over for some!!
Saturday, April 12, 2008 - 04:30 PM

Kristine
My stomach's already hungry and this isn't helping! But I do have a great French Onion soup recipe that you can find on my blog. :)
Friday, April 25, 2008 - 11:45 AM