I love a nice big club sandwich and I also love pasta salads! This recipe incorporates the two. This pasta salad is full of yummy ingredients! This is hearty enough for a light main course for lunch or dinner or serve it as a side!
Here is what you will need:
8 oz. rotini pasta (could use penne)
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin, including the green blades
2 tomatoes, diced and seeded or 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (I used a yellow and a red tomato for color)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (optional)
2 cups cooked chicken breast meat, diced in bite size pieces ( You can use a rotisserie chicken or even left over chicken)
5 slices of Swiss or Provolone Cheese, cut in thin strips about an inch long
7-8 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
Dressing
3/4 cup prepared Italian salad dressing of your choice (I used Olive Garden)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. celery seeds (Optional)
Cook the pasta according to the package directions in salted water minus about 1 minute of cooking time. You want it to be al dente and not too tender. Drain and run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking. Make sure it's drained really well. Rinse the pan you cooked the pasta in until cool and you can mix this up right in that pan. This keeps your final salad bowl you put this in to serve looking nice.
Place the drained pasta and all of the vegetables, chicken, cheese and half of the bacon in the pan.
Whisk together the Italian dressing, mayonnaise, and the Dijon mustard until smooth. Whisk in the salt, pepper, garlic powder and celery seeds. Pour over the pasta mixture and lightly toss until it is all coated well.
Place in a serving bowl and garnish the top with the other half of the bacon!
Serve as a light lunch or supper or as a side dish! This is a great potluck or church supper recipe!
No comments:
Post a Comment