italian chicken salad

This is chick food at it's best! I love this pasta from Giada's Everyday Pasta cookbook. Her recipe even calls for serving it in butter lettuce leaves as cups which would be fun to do if you were serving it for a lunch with friends. Scott doesn't mind this dish but it's not his idea of a 'real' meal though so I rarely make it as our main entree. I did serve it last week for dinner one night with breadsticks and the boys were fine with that because there was chocolate cake for dessert. Big slices for them!

Elle, Ava and I were happy to have the rest of it for lunch for the next couple days. (It makes a lot!) Ava gobbled it up. She picked the capers and some of the onions out but ate everything else. She even said, 'Mmmm, this has good flavors' while she was eating it. She's just repeating what she hears on the cooking shows she loves so much. :) Here's the recipe -

Italian Chicken Salad

1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 lb. farfalle pasta
4 cups coarsely shredded roasted chicken (I like to use one rotisserie chicken for the grocery store. Easy, convenient and always good.)
1/2 cup diced roasted red bell pepper* (1 small - medium pepper)
1/2 cup diced roasted yellow bell pepper*
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup capers, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette (scroll down for recipe)
Parmesan Cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the almonds on a small baking sheet in a single layer. Bake until golden brown about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl to cool. (I often toast the almonds in a non-stick pan on the cooktop and just be sure to watch it very closely. It seems a waste to heat a big oven up just to toast nuts unless you are going to throw something else in as well.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta with the chicken, bell peppers, onion, parsley, almonds, capers, salt and pepper. Drizzle with 1 cup of the vinaigrette and toss gently. Add more vinaigrette if needed. Serve with a shaving of Parmesan cheese on top of each individual serving.

Giada's recipe says to serve it, arrange 1 large lettuce leaf and 1 small lettuce leaf on each plate, overlapping slightly. Spoon the chicken salad into the lettuce 'cups'. Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup of vinaigrette over the salads. Garnish with shavings of the Parmesan cheese.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp honey
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, and honey in a blender. With the motor running, gradually add the oil. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper, adding more to taste if needed.

*My favorite quick method to roast peppers is to place them right on the grate on my gas cooktop. Turn them several times so that the skin gets completely charred. Wrap in paper towels and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Then just rub the skin off into the paper towel.