Chicken and mango salad with spinach and hazelnuts

Dice the chicken breast into cubes of roughly 2 cm each side and marinate them in a dish with oil, chili pepper and a few sprigs of thyme to taste. Leave the chicken to marinate for approximately 10 minutes.  

In the meantime, prepare the mango. Cut the fruit in half on each side of the pit.  Using the point of a knife, make cross-cut incisions on each half without cutting through the mango skin. When you fold back the skin you will have multiple mango cubes. Separate them from the skin using a sharp knife. 

Prepare the salad dressing in a small bowl by mixing the oil with a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. Whisk the ingredients into a citronette emulsion. Roughly chop the hazelnuts with a knife. 

Trim and wash the spinach leaves and then place them in a salad bowl. Add the mango and hazelnuts and dress the ingredients with the citronette.  Mix the salad well to distribute the dressing evenly. Now, melt the butter in a frying pan and add the chicken cubes. Toss the chicken for 5 minutes and when cooked, add it to the salad.  

Useful tips and interesting facts

This is a particularly fresh-tasting salad which delights the palate with different temperatures and textures, so it is a good idea to prepare it a little in advance. To make the chicken even more tender, marinate a bit longer (up to 4 hours in the fridge). If you are not quite so keen on hot chili flavours, you could marinate the chicken with dried or fresh herbs such as basil, coriander, thyme and marjoram. Instead of mango, you may use any sweet fruit, such as peaches, apples, honeydew melon, watermelon or, for a more neutral taste, try avocado.