Ensalada Roja Con Pollo

While surfing some of my favorite websites for new recipes today I stumbled upon a recipe called Ensalada Roja Con Pollo (Red Salad with Chicken.) It looked interesting and is supposedly a traditional Venezuelan recipe which I found exciting. I've never made anything Venezuelan and thought, "ooo this could be fun!"

I decided to change the salad around to make it a little more healthy and a bit more catered to my tastes.... I think this is an important thing to do while cooking. Sometimes people get scared to alter recipes or substitute ingredients --- make it your own, don't be afraid!

I generally prefer golden beets over the red variety so I made that substitution; this of course took away from the pretty red color of the salad, but I think it added a nice flavor. I also almost always prefer fresh produce over canned, the recipe called for canned beets, which I'm sure would have worked out fine, but again, fresh is almost always better.

I also only used about 1/4 C of mayo and added a little extra virgin olive oil at the end of the process to moisten the salad and also add the lovely fruity flavor that you get from really good olive oil. I dusted each serving with some chili powder, which added a little depth of flavor.

All in all I wasn't wowed by the flavor of this salad... it was pretty though, maybe the flavors will develop a little more by tomorrow. 

Husband rating: 8. The hubby loved this dish. He really liked the variety of ingredients and enjoyed that it is a quick and easy dish that he can eat when pressed for time. 

Recipe for Ensalada Roja Con Pollo