If you’ve ever asked yourself that question around dinnertime, welcome to my world. Most Sundays I’ll pull a few meat items out of the freezer and move them into the fridge for dinner options during the week. By the end of the week, it’s less about options and more about necessity. Got to use up what’s thawed!
Concurrently: I get to the market about once a week to pick up whatever has accumulated on our refrigerator-mounted shopping list. While there, I’ll typically look around at what’s on special or what looks good (usually because it’s in season). Recently, that was asparagus. Beautiful, delicate, slender stalks of asparagus. For $1.99 a bundle. SOLD!
So by the end of the week I have thawed chicken and asparagus. Well, we could grill the chicken, and steam or stir fry the asparagus, and have a perfectly lovely dinner. Again. We’ve made this before. But it’s starting to get hot in Texas, and pasta salad sure was sounding good. Chicken asparagus in a pasta salad? Hmmmm.
So, some Googling later and I had an idea. And here’s the result. It was yummy and made great leftovers for lunches the next day.
Italian Chicken Asparagus Pasta (Salad)
Print Recipe
This can be served warm, room temperature or cold, and it's good every which way.
Put chicken breasts in a bowl or zip close bag with enough of the Italian dressing to cover. Allow to marinate in the fridge at least 30 minutes. Go light the grill. Might be a good time to grab a frosty beverage.
Add pasta to a large pot of boiling, salted water.
Cook pasta to just short of al dente. You want it a little firm. My technique is to scoop out a noodle and take a bite; should be just a bit chewy, but not crunchy or mushy (those are the scientific terms in case you were wondering). Drain the pasta in a colander, and toss with a bit of the Italian dressing to keep it from sticking together. DON'T RINSE! The dressing won't stick. Do give the pasta a stir every now and then to prevent The Giant Ball of Pasta syndrome.
Toss the chicken on the grill. Chicken grills best low and slow, so keep the heat down to about 350 and be patient. You will be rewarded.
Snap the ends of the asparagus, and chop into 1 inch pieces. Hey! Where did those peas come from?!? (Hint: good time to clean out your veggie drawer)
Toss the asparagus (and those peas I snuck in) into a wide, shallow pan with about 1/4 inch of boiling water for a quick blanch, only a minute or two. Drain and run cold water over them to stop the cooking. You want some snap!
Go check the chicken. It's probably been about 10 minutes now, about time to give them a turn. Brush or pour on some of the leftover marinade Italian dressing. May be time for another frosty beverage.
Dump the pasta and asparagus into an incredibly attractive pasta bowl. Give it a stir with a little more Italian dressing to keep things from sticking together.
Cut the tomatoes in half (if you want depending on size), add to the party.
Add some more dressing, give the pasta, asparagus and tomatoes a nice stir. Keeps things from sticking, encourages everything to soak up the dressing flavors.
Should be about time to pull the chicken. I use an instant read thermometer and look for about 140 degrees in the center of the thickest part of the breast. You can also push on it; it should bounce back, not sink. Let the chicken rest about 10 minutes before cutting into bite-sized cubes. You know how big your mouth is, I'll leave the size to you.
Dump the chicken into the pasta mixture, stir and add still more of the dressing to coat.
Measure the 1/2 cups of parm and feta, stir into the pasta, and -- wait for it -- add more dressing to make sure everything in the bowl has plenty of it.
Top with a julienne of fresh basil, and enjoy. Perhaps with a frosty beverage.
