Chicken Pasta Salad

This week's post has been inspired by a favorite summer meal I made my family tonight. I find it so fascinating how fast sounds, smells and tastes can send us back to sometime in our past.  My great grandma's house had this amazing smell that I can't describe but it always made me feel safe, happy and loved. A few months ago I walked past a cute store that had the same smell. I stopped immediately and stood there looking quite silly, I'm sure, slowly taking in the smell of that store and smiling as I thought of my sweet great grandma; I remember her eyes that would light up when she smiled and heard her laugh as we "raced" to her rocking chair. Our senses are amazing gifts to have! 

Tonight's dinner was a chicken pasta salad that I first tasted 20 years ago when my oldest daughter and I picnicked with my sweet neighbor friend and her three oldest kids. I quickly got the recipe from my friend and made it for my husband. It has since been a family summer favorite. Since it's not a dairy based dressing I've made this for dinners on the go during those crazy summer night activities.

Just as I was pouring the dressing over the all the yummy ingedients my 14 yr old daughter walks in, races over to the counter, picked up a piece of chicken and popped it in her mouth. As soon as she bites down she rolls her eyes (in a good way!), smiles and says, "MMMMmmmmm.  I LOVE this salad so much!" and runs back outside. As I took my first taste test I was taken back to that warm summer day I first tasted this salad. A smile comes to my face as I see my barefoot 2 year old running around the soft yard with her friends and my friend sitting on the plaid blanket  as we share this big bowl of the best pasta salad I had ever eaten.   

Below is the Chicken Pasta Salad recipe. (I wrote this recipe out for my daughters when they left for college. Ignore the notes, unless it's something you're learning too.) I hope it brings a smile to your face as all the flavors of the spices, red wine vinegar and dijon mustard hit your taste buds. I promise if you take this salad to any potluck or picnic you will bring home an empty bowl.

Chicken Pasta Salad

Prep time 30 minutes

Serves 8-10

16 oz pasta

1 bunch broccoli florets

1 small red onion, slivered

1 red pepper, cut julienne

1-6oz can black olives, drained

3 lbs chicken, cooked & cubed

Dressing

                     ½ C vegetable oil                          1 TBS Dijon mustard

                     ¼ C olive oil                                   1 TBS chopped parsley

                    1/3 C red wine vinegar                    2 tsp of each dried spice:

  2 garlic cloves, pressed                   basil, tarragon, marjoram, chives

      Parmesan cheese to taste and cashews

Cook chicken and rinse with cold water.  Cook pasta, drain and rinse with cold water. Blanche broccoli florets (to blanche something you do the following: Fill pan with water,  just enough water to cover broccoli, bring to a boil and add broccoli and cook for 1 minute.  After 1 minute drain and rinse in cold water. Rinsing in cold water stops the cooking process. )

Mix everything else together and let chill for at least an hour before serving. Serve with cashews and parmessan cheese.

RECIPE NOTES:

A pasta that isn’t huge is best for this salad, as it won’t soak up all the dressing. I use the big wagon wheel pasta but have used penne too. Bow tie pasta isn’t great with this.

I’ve also used Balsamic vinegar instead of Red Wine Vinegar. It tastes fine, just has a more bitter flavor rather than tangy.

Don’t add the cashews to the whole bowl of salad because they’ll get soggy fast.

Dried spices are more potent than fresh. So if you use fresh spices, use tablespoons rather than teaspoons but use the same number measurement. In this case, 2 TBS for fresh, 2 tsp for dried.