This very simple salad came about as a result of me being lazy, but very hungry. I had some leftover roast chicken in the refrigerator and my usual go-to in such cases is fried rice, however, I wanted something even simpler and with a lot less work. Remember I’m being lazy. Somehow I cannot cook Fried Rice or Chowmein without veggies and the usual trinity of ginger, garlic and hot peppers and since I was… come on say it with me, being lazy, there was no way that either of those dishes was going to be cooked.
Ah pasta! Comes to one’s rescue ever so often. A pot of salted boiling water gave volume and tenderness to my penne and a little later I was sitting down to a bowl of pasta and chicken salad. It’s the kind of salad you can make a large batch of and eat for a few days.
Feel free to dress up your salad as you please and add other ingredients such as olives, and vegetables.
There are no specific quantities to this recipe, work with what you have.
INGREDIENTS
- Cooked pasta, cooled completely
- Roast chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
- Real Mayonnaise
- Country –style or other grainy mustard
- Hot pepper sauce, to taste
- Thinly sliced scallions
- Minced parsley
DIRECTIONS
Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least ½ hour before eating.
NOTES
- This is an ideal make-ahead salad and it will last for several days in the refrigerator.
- Remember to boil the pasta in salted water as that is the only way to season the pasta.
- If adding veggies, blanch or par-cook them, drain well and pat dry before adding to salad.
- With salads such as this, it is best to use the short-cut pastas like penne, elbows, orzo, fusilli (twists), farfalle (bows)