Pasta Salad with Chicken, Green Olives, and Ramp Vinaigrette
Chicken salad meets Spring. This pasta salad is heavy on the chicken.
Servings: 12 People
Calories: 439kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ramps about 40, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces - leaves and bulbs both
- 1 pound rigatoni or other chunky pasta
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste
- 2 ½ pounds boneless chicken breasts poached (see recipe intro) and cubed
- 1 cup roughly chopped Picholine or other green olives
Instructions
- In a medium sized skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté a little more than half of the ramps for about 15 minutes until very tender.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse under cool water.
- While the pasta and ramps are cooking, in a food processor or blender, make the vinaigrette. Combine the rest of the ramps, vinegar, olive oil, honey, Dijon, salt and pepper. Puree.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked ramps, cooked and cooled pasta, vinaigrette, chicken cubes, and olives, toss very well to combine thoroughly. I find it best to use hands for this to really get the sautéed ramps well distributed, but if that doesn't appeal, of course you can use a spoon. Serve cool or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 445mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 765IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 2mg