Chicken Pasta Salad

By

Super easy super fast please!

What happened to time?

Is it flying supersonic speed, or is it me? It’s like the day begins for the week to end, and a week goes by so fast the next thing you know the year is coming to an end! It would actually be nice to get sometime to take it all in.

We all have so many things to fit in one day, if we actually can fit any in today’s already full life! So there are these days when you need to get things off your list rather than on! Even the most enthusiastic cook has days when cooking comes second if not last!

So for the times when you just want to keep it simple, you want a hearty meal without the fuss in the kitchen, and you still want to eat healthy; this pasta salad gives you just that! It is hearty, filling, delicious, minimum fuss, fast and super healthy. Yes sometimes we all need the comfort, the nutrients and some extra time for ourselves… So here is for a super quick and delicious lunch.

For the chicken, you can either use leftover chicken, purchased roasted chicken, or roast your own chicken at home… A very simple way to prepare chicken though is to either mince it and stir fry it or to dice it and cook stirring on the stovetop.

I have also included for you a video I found that explains very well how to choose your pasta and gives a few very good very quick and easy pasta recipes when you are pressed for time and don’t want extra mess in your kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 1 packet pasta any type you prefer
  • 1 Whole grilled chicken, meat pulled from the bones
  • Assorted leaves (purple endives, boston lettuce, romaine lettuce…)
  • Baby Asparagus, roughly chopped (optional)
  • Blanched broccoli florets (optional)
  • 1 large green capsicum, diced
  • 1 large red capsicum, diced
  • 1 small red onion, sliced
  • 3 tbsp DS Green Olives in Brine, pitted and sliced
  • Parmesan shavings (optional)

For Dressing

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp DS Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tbsp Mustard
  • 1 tsp Organic Cider vinegar or white wine Vinegar
  • 1 tsp DS Red Shatta (optional for spicy)
  • Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Cook the Pasta al dente. Drain and set aside, without washing or rinsing.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine all the chopped vegetables together with the pulled chicken pieces and set aside. Do not add the leaves/lettuce here.

Prepare the dressing

Mix all the dressing ingredients together until emulsified (not separated), set aside.

Add the cooked pasta to the rest of the ingredients in the large bowl and pour over the dressing. Stir to coat all.

Place all the leaves in a large serving bowl, then transfer the dressed ingredients to the serving bowl on top of the lettuce.  Sprinkle the Parmesan shavings if using.

Serve cold.

If you suffer from gluten or wheat intolerance or are celiac, then you can use rice noodles instead. And there are some good quality gluten-free pastas out there that you can use so you don’t miss out.

Otherwise you can always recreate the same recipe without the use of any pasta and serve it with baked potatoes/ sweet potatoes or pumpkins.

Another way to keep your gluten-free pasta from being bland and boring is to add nuts to it. Pecans and walnuts are great additions, and so are hazelnuts. Pair them with suiting fruits such as the pecans and segmented oranges in the image here. Pairs well with chicken and makes your salad a tad more interesting than just the chicken and the vegetables.

 

You may also like…