Emma Bengtsson’s Simple Chicken Salad

Welcome to Sunset Suppers, a series of cooking videos shot by chefs and food notables in the first weeks of self-quarantine. These days everyone’s living, working, and cooking differently. That includes us here at Sunset—where our homes have become our offices/studios/test kitchens—and it includes chefs. We asked our favorite chefs in the West and beyond to turn the camera on themselves and share their tips on how to cook easy, nourishing, and comforting food with the limitations of what people have on hand. Similarly we’d like to know what and how you’re cooking, so please share your hacks and home cook victories on social media and tag it #sunsetsuppers!

A simple salad topped with chicken breast can be an uninspired fallback healthy lunch, but in the hands of Emma Bengtsson, executive chef of New York’s legendary modern Swedish restaurant Aquavit, it’s a full flavored and uplifting thing of beauty that wins on technique. Searing well seasoned chicken breast over high heat and then finishing it with garlicky butter until it’s just cooked transforms the lean meat into an indulgence against the sprightly crunch of olives, spring onions, chia and flax seeds.

This recipe, and others like it, can be found in the article “10 Salad Recipes That Put the Taste of Spring Right onto Your Plate.”