This delicious salad was inspired by one of our favorite local Bountiful restaurants. Pasta, fruit, chicken and a light, sweet, homemade dressing
Ingredients
Salad
3/4poundbow tie pasta
2cupsboneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
3cupsred seedless grapes
1ripe mango, cubed
1 1/2cupscelery, chopped
1bunch green onion, chopped (green part of the onion only)
1-2avocados, ripe but still firm, cut into chunks
Slivered almonds, toasted (optional)
Dressing
1 1/4cupsregular mayonnaise, not low fat
1/4cupcider vinegar
1/4cupfresh lime juice
2-3tablespoonshoney
2tablespoonsdried tarragon or 1/4 cup fresh tarragon, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook pasta as directed on the package. Drain and rinse with cold water.
dressing
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. If using fresh tarragon, place ingredients in a blender and blend until tarragon is finely chopped.
Salad
In a large bowl, combine pasta and chicken; mix with half of the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for an hour. Most of the dressing will be absorbed into the cooked pasta.
In a medium bowl, combine grapes, mango, celery, and green onions.
To assemble: Mix three-quarters of the grapes, mango, celery, and green onions with the pasta and chicken. Toss with additional dressing. Just before serving, top with avocados, almonds, and the remaining grapes, mango, celery, and green onions.
Notes
I think tossing the pasta with the dressing and letting it rest in the fridge allows the flavors soak into the pasta. If you don't have time for that, just mix up the salad and let the pasta sit in the dressing for at least a half hour. Then proceed as directed.
If you want make a fresh basil-lime dressing, just sub 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves for the tarragon.
I made this up with 1 lb pasta originally, but thought the veggie to pasta ratio was a bit on the heavy side for the pasta, so I reduced the amount of pasta in this recipe to 3/4 lb.
Did I mention Plates and Palates caters? If you are not the cooking type, you can purchase a whole BOWL of salad for your next gathering.