This basil chicken salad is a nutritious and flavorful way to use up an abundance of fresh basil. It's packed with nutrition and a punch of protein, and naturally gluten-free. Summer whole food dining at its finest.
Pre-heat a charcoal grill, gas grill, or grill pan oven high heat.
Prepare the salad dressing. Combine the fresh basil, olive oil, champagne vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a small blender (like a bullet) and blend until emulsified. Alternatively, finely chop the basil, then place all ingredients in a small jar with a lid and shake vigorously until combined.
Prepare the basil chicken for grilling. In a small bowl, whisk the avocado oil, basil, kosher salt, and pepper. Place the chicken breasts on a place, and coat each side of the chicken with the basil marinade. I find the easiest way to do this is to spoon marinade over the chicken, and then rub in the marinade with your (clean) hands.
Prepare the corn and peaches for grilling. Trim any long husks from the corn that might fall through the grates, but keep husks in tact. Halve the peaches, remove the pits, then quarter. Brush each side of the peaches with avocado oil and sprinkle with salt and cracked pepper.
Slice the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Place the baby mixed greens, basil leaves, blue cheese crumbles, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl and set aside.
Place the chicken breasts, peaches, and corn on the grill and grill over high heat. For the chicken, grill for 8 minutes, then flip and grill on the other side until the internal temperature reaches 165*, about 15-18 minutes total. For the corn, turn every 2-3 minutes until the husks are charred on all sides, 10-12 minutes. For the peaches, grill 2-3 minutes per side, or until each side is charred and the peaches are tender, but not mushy. For ease (and because my grill was too small to accommodate all items), I placed the chicken and corn on the grill first, removed the corn after about 11 minutes, and then added the peaches to the grill. By the time the peaches were complete, the chicken was also finished.
Remove the husks and silks from the corn, and the slice the kernels off the cobs. Add the kernels to the bowl with the salad base ingredients, and gently toss all ingredients. Divide the salad between 4 plates.
Slice the chicken and the peaches. To each salad plate, add ½ sliced chicken breast and two sliced peach halves. Dress with basil vinaigrette to taste and serve immediately.
Notes
You'll have extra basil vinaigrette left over. Try it tossed over warm potatoes, or to dress a simple side salad. Keeps in the fridge for about a week.