early in the day or day before prepare chicken in marinade:
4chicken breast halves, any fat trimmed off
3/4cupof barbecue sauce to marinate chicken
Salad:
1large head romaine
12cupslettuce Spring Mix or Spinach, about 1/2 of a Costco box of Spring Mix
Potatoes:
2sweet potatoes, baked or grilled on bbq just until soft
olive oil for brushing on sweet potatoes
Succotash:
2tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil
juice of 2 limes
1-2clovesof garlic, minced
2teaspoonscumin
2teaspoonschili powder
2-15ozcans black beans, drained & rinsed ( I like S&W brand regular or organic)
3cupscorn, frozen
1teaspooneach sea salt & pepper
Dressing:
1 1/3cupmayonnaise, light or regular, I used light Best Foods
2/3cupbuttermilk, sour cream, or nonfat greek yogurt, I used light sour cream
1/2cupfresh cilantro, chopped
4tablespoonslime juice
1tablespoonwhite vinegar
1garlic clove, finely minced
1teaspoonsalt
1/4teaspooncayenne pepper
few generous dashes fresh ground black pepper
1/2teaspoonground cumin
1/2cupBBQ sauce (you may use either home made or bottle and additional for drizzling on salad)
2-3tablespoonsmilk, if needed for thinning dressing
Instructions
The day before serving salad or early in the day:
Marinate chicken in BBQ sauce at least 6 hours. I like to use a large Ziplock bag. After marinating, preheat grill, and cook chicken until done. Barbecue the chicken on low heat for about 8-9 minutes per side, depending on thickness of meat. Remove from heat, check for doneness. If cooked through, let rest for about 5-10 minutes. Slice after cooled.
Succotash: Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add beans & corn, season with salt & pepper. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Dressing: Add all the ingredients together and whisk (or shake, if using a jar) vigorously to combine. I used a blender and pulsed the ingredients.
After the potatoes are cooked, gently chop.
Assembly:
Place lettuce on platter or large bowl. Layer on top of lettuce with black bean & corn succotash, sweet potatoes, and chicken. Drizzle with additional BBQ sauce, followed by the Creamy BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing.
Notes
-Great dish for make-ahead. I made the entire salad the night before and bagged all of the ingredients separately. Then in the afternoon, took to a luncheon and assembled it in just a few minutes.-You may use any combo of ingredients for the succotash. It would be delicious with red or yellow peppers, chopped onion (red, yellow or white) or tomatoes. I added small grape tomatoes and loved the color and flavor.-This serves about 20 as a side dish, and is easily halved-I like to make my own bbq sauce (recipe found here), but didn't have any on hand, so I used 'Sweet Baby Rays" bottled sauce in this dressing, and for the marinade.-For the sweet potatoes, I wrapped the potatoes in foil and grilled them on my bbq (350 degree for about an hour. After they were softened, I cut them into about 3/4 inch slices, brushed both sides with olive oil and grilled them just until they were cooked a bit more and had grill marks on the outside of the potatoes.You can eliminate the step of wrapping in foil and baking the potatoes. Simply place the peeled, sliced potato onto a greased baking sheet and bake or broil until softened. Or grill pieces on the bbq grill.-If you are a cheese lover, grate some cheese on top - Monterrey Jack would work well. I don't think this salad needs cheese, there are lots of flavors in the salad, and with the creamy dressing, I think cheese is a little overkill. Just my two cents :)