If you are using wild rice, which I would highly recommend, get it cooking now. It can take a while, around 50 mins, but the texture and chew complement the salad really well so any time waiting will be well worth it. Just follow whatever the packet cooking instructions tell you to do.

Next, make the dressing. Combine the lemon, garlic, mustard, salt and honey together. Give them a quick stir to make sure the salt and honey are completely dissolved, then add in your oil.

Now for the chicken. I typically like to marinade meats in a plastic bag. And, like I said before, you can either do a quick marinade, using some of the dressing you just made, or dump some similar flavors into a bag with the chicken and let it chill in the fridge while you wait for that rice to cook. Or, even easier, do nothing at all. The salad is still totally delish without meat. For this version I stuck the two chicken thighs in a plastic bag, threw in all the ingredients and smushed them around to make sure the chicken was evenly coated.

For everything that needs to be sliced in the recipe I used a mandolin. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools. I have one where you can adjust the thickness of your cut, so I aim for around 1mm, but slice as thick or thin as you like, it all depends of preference.

For the final assembly, go ahead and grill that chicken, and let it sit for a few minutes to cool slightly while you assemble the greens. I do a bit of a layering job starting with a bed of arugula, followed by the fennel and then scatter the remaining ingredients over that and drizzle with the dressing. It’s a salad, you know what to do. And then, go ahead and eat up!