Friday, April 6, 2007

Chicken Oriental Pasta Spinach Salad

This was a recipe at one of my Cooking Club meetings and I couldn't stop eating it. I loved the dressing! It was interesting to have a salad with chicken and pasta along with the spinach but it made it more filling so this could definitely be a main course for a dinner. Delicious!

Salad:
1 box Gemelli pasta (Barilla brand)
3 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
8 cups fresh baby spinach (I use 1 bag)
1/4 cup parsley, chopped (optional, but it tastes great with orwithout it)
1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Dressing:
1 cup olive oil (can use vegetable oil too)
2/3 cup rice vinegar
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix the dressing ingredients in a blender. Mix remaining ingredients with dressing and chill until ready to eat. If making (way) ahead, mix pasta and chicken with a little bit of dressing and refrigerate. Mix spinach, parsley and onions seperately. Refrigerate dressing until ready to mix salad. Add sesame seeds just before serving.

6 comments:

Stina said...

I'm definitely going to make this salad. I'm so in the mood for them with our warm weather (sorry to rub that it, Twissa).

Carissa Poyfair said...

It is so good. You will love it. I am in the mood for soups... weird huh? That's what I get for living in the mecca of all that is snowy.

Carissa Poyfair said...

So I made this the other night and I would use more spinach than one bag. When I said "I use one bag" that was actually what the girl who gave me this recipe said. I use two bags of baby spinach. They said 4-5 cups on the servings on the back of each bag. Another note-the spinach gets soggy if there are leftovers so make this if you are planning on serving 4 or more, or just add the spinach in each bowl separately. It's delicious, one of Adam's new "faves"!

Stina said...

This was so yummy. And, Celeste, you'll appreciate this--Brent ate this salad and liked it. I was so nervous about him. If you know the Pearson's--only bring iceberg lettuce salads, maybe a green leaf. But, spinach? Never! And if you do, be sure not to tell them. I'm not sure if Brent knew it was spinach or not, but he liked it!

Stina said...

PS. If you buy your own spinach that you have to cut and prepare, buy two bunches for this salad.

Stina said...

PPS. Carissa gave me a tip and said I could use bowtie pasta instead. It worked great.