Friday, June 3, 2011

Fresh corn & Chicken Salad with Bow Tie Pasta

While grocery shopping last week, I spotted a great deal on a large jar of good old fashioned mayonnaise.  I contemplated the purchase because, while Greg loves mayo, I love miracle whip, and it didn't seem economical, or space friendly, to buy such a large jar when it could go bad.  A smile crossed my face, however, when I realized that the summer months are upon us and I would soon be making the traditional mayo based salads to accompany our many cook-outs, and, in the basket it went.  That got me thinking though.  I'm kinda bored with the usual salads choices, ie potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, seafood salad, and tuna salad etc. (of which the latter two I can't make because of my husband's allergies)  I wanted something fresh and invigorated with flavor!  Enter my favorite food blog "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" and her take on a literal chicken salad.  I read the ingredients and thought to myself, "man, with a little tweaking, that would be great with bow tie pasta!"  So here it is.  A divine and fresh take on our traditional American pasta salads.  Eat and be merry.

Fresh Corn & Chicken Salad with Bow Tie Pasta
Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, marinated in Italian dressing, fully cooked (preferably grilled), and sliced into thin pieces about 1/4 in. thick  (Much better than cubing)
I had already started digging in so
please disregard the "presentation" :-)
2-3 fresh ears corn, kernels cut from cob*
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb Farfalle (bow tie) Pasta

Dressing:
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C mayonnaise
1/4 C feta cheese
1 t dried dill or 1 T fresh dill
1 T lemon juice
S & P to taste

In a medium saucepan bring salted water to a boil and add pasta.  Cook according to package instructions.  Grill the chicken.  Once cooked and cooled, cut along the bias and then thinly slice.  (*You may want to cut the corn into the bowl before adding the dressing ingredients if the kernels are still on the cob at this point. )  In a large bowl create dressing by mixing all ingredients together.   Add corn, celery, red pepper, onion, and chicken to bowl, toss to coat.  Add drained and cooled pasta to bowl.  Toss to coat.  Serve with an additional sprinkling of feta cheese and garnish with dill.

*An easy way to get corn off the cob is to take a large glass bowl and invert a smaller plastic bowl that fits into the base of the large bowl.  Place the ear of corn vertically on top of the bottom of the small bowl and cut the kernels off.  Kernels are then automatically collected in the larger bowl.
Alt: You can toss in blueberries to an individual serving to add an extra punch of summery goodness.  Trust me, it's good.

2 comments:

  1. OK am I crazy but I see blueberries or grapes but something of dark color in this salad that is not listed in the ingredients. ;)

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  2. Yes! Sorry, you're the second person to ask me that. I did put blueberries in it for my salad, Greg wouldn't have it. And it's really good with them mixed it. I would keep it as a optional addition on the side. I put that at the bottom of the recipe as an "Alt" version to add blueberries but I didn't make it standout and probably should've mentioned it on the picture. Sorry!

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