Summer's finally here in all of its sticky and humid glory.

To quote Gus from Psych: “You know that's right.”

And to try to escape the heat we've been eating a lot of salads. A lot of this salad in particular. Heat doesn't mean that I shy away from spice, and this salad with its subtle, sweet and spicy Asian flavor is an excellent dinner at twilight at 9 p.m. Also, when I'm on deadline and stressed it's comforting to just have an easy fallback dish when we're both tired.

(Scene: Jedd walks in the door hot and tired at 8:45 from work.)

Launie: “5-Spice Chicken Salad again?”

Jedd: “You know that's right.”

Chinese 5-Spice Chicken Salad

4 thin boneless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon of Chinese 5-Spice Powder (we used homemade)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salad greens

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 of a small red onion, sliced

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cover both sides of the chicken breasts with the 5-Spice. When the oil shimmers and is hot but not smoking, gently drop the chicken breasts in the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes a side until brown. While the chicken cools, assemble the salad, make the vinaigrette and then slice the chicken and serve it on top of the greens.

Horseradish Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced red onion

3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons of horseradish

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Whisk all of the ingredients together and pour over the salads.

Serves 4.

Photo by Launie Kettler