Pasta salad with chicken and veggies

 

Sometimes simple American food is best. I started making this easy dish recently and everybody in the family likes it! It's great on hot summer days as a dinner entree, or it can be a side dish any time of year. If you're a gardener and have small tomatoes and/or cucumbers growing, this is a great way to use them. The yellow pear tomatoes shown here are from our garden.

Ingredients

1 pound Farfalle (bowtie pasta)

apple cider vinegar, about 1/4 cup plus 2 T, divided

Olive oil, about 1/4 cup plus 2 T, divided

Feta cheese, about 3 ounces, divided

Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon

Pepper, pinch

Cooked chicken, 1/2 pound or more (don't have this? grab a package of chicken tenders and saute them in butter for about 15 minutes, then slice)

Cucumber, diced (any amount)

Mini tomatoes, cut in half (any amount)

mini mozzarella balls, drained, 8 ounces

 

Assembly

1. Cook the farfalle according to instructions and drain in a colander in the sink.  
2. While the pasta is still warm, drizzle on about 2 T olive oil and toss lightly, then do the same with about 2 T of apple cider vinegar. Let cool. (The theory here is that the pasta will soak up the flavors better when it's warm.)
3. Next, make creamy dressing by combining about 1 ounce of crumbled feta cheese with the rest of the olive oil and apple cider vinegar, mustard, and a pinch of black peper. I like to use a stick blender for this. Then, toss the dressing with the farfalle in a large bowl.
   
   
   
   Ready for the rest of the ingredients
   
   
4. Last, mix in all the chunky ingredients--the chicken pieces, the cucumber, the tomatoes, the mozzarella balls, and the rest of the crumbled feta. It's nice to let everything meld together, so put in the fridge for at least an hour. Then serve!
   

 

One interesting note is that we tried this without the mozzarella balls because they don't have very much flavor. But we found we missed their distinctive soft, chewy texture. Of course you can add any other ingredients you'd like here. Celery bits, kalamata olives, parsley, or red onion might be nice, for example.