pecan-crusted goat cheese salad with blood orange tahini dressing

Directions

1. For the Dressing
2. Put the sunflower seed oil, champagne vinegar, juice from both a blood orange and tangerine, dried cherries, tahini, honey and salt in your blender and blend on high speed until the cherries are broken up and the mixture is completely emulsified. Set aside.

1. For the Salad
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Make sure you have a rack in the middle of the oven.
3. Cut one blood orange in half. One half will be used to squeeze over the chicken prior to the oven; the other half needs to be thinly sliced.
4. Grab two large plates: one for your raw chicken (in which to season it on) and another to rest the chicken after you've browned it.
5. Place the chicken on one of the plates and coat with 1 tablespoon Datil spice or 1 teaspoon each sea salt and pepper.
6. Heat either a large cast-iron pot (I use a 5.5 QT cocotte) or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoons of olive oil. Once it’s shimmering, swirl it around so that it coats the surface.
7. Place the chicken in the pot, without crowding it. You may need to brown the chicken in batches depending on the size of your pot. Leave the chicken, undisturbed, for 2-3 minutes or until a nice brown crust forms. Flip and repeat on the other side. Remove from the pan and place on the other clean plate. Repeat until all breasts are browned, but not cooked through.
8. Pour the chicken broth into the pot, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to get up any brown bits.
9. Add the chicken and accumulated juices to the pot. Squeeze half of one blood orange over the chicken and then place the blood orange slices from the other half in and round the chicken.
10. Place the pot on the middle rack of the oven, with the lid on, and cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
11. Set the chicken aside to cool.
12. Once cooled, cut the chicken into small, bite-size chunks.
13. Cook your rise according to the instructions on the package. Set aside to cool.
14. Grab your crushed pecans, goat cheese and a plate to rest the balls on. Make sure your pecans are finely crushed up. Roll about 1 teaspoon of goat cheese into a ball between your palms. Gently roll the goat cheese balls in the crushed pecans and place on the plate. Once all of the goat cheese is coated and rolled, place the plate in the freezer. After 1-2 hours, they should be frozen and you can place them in a resealable plastic bag and put back in the freezer. Take them out of the freezer 2 hours prior to serving the salad.
15. Peel and thinly slice crosswise the remaining two blood oranges.
16. Put the arugula in a large bowl. Sprinkle the rice, basil leaves, pecans, cherries and chicken. Drizzle with half of the salad dressing and toss a bit. Taste. Do you need all of the dressing? Everyone's taste is different. Add more in small increments until you hit the sweet spot. Place the blood orange slices around the salad and sprinkle with the pecan-crusted goat cheese balls. That's it. You're done.
17. This should be eaten within an hour of tossing...arugula + dressing won't last long together once introduced. That's just how some relationships go. Enjoy!