Guest Blog, Recipe: Sesame Pasta Chicken Salad

This Friday, my sister Kelley is offering a new recipe she tried out for lunch one day.  It sounds delicious, and I can't wait to give this a try!  Thanks Kel!

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Whenever I’m looking to try something new at home, I go to http://www.allrecipes.com/.  If you’re not familiar with the site, check it out.  There are tons of ideas with reviews, and you can even save your favorites to your own recipe box.  Also, after you sign up, you will receive Daily Dish e-mails to give you ideas without even having to think about it!

This week I was looking for a new idea for lunch and wanted something on the healthier side.  My sister, Kate, and I are always looking for new lunch ideas because the same old sandwich/salad options get so boring!  I had a ton of chicken in the freezer, so I decided to go that route.  Upon my search I found a recipe for Sesame Pasta Chicken Salad.  The description said, “A refreshing light pasta with a delicious Asian flare.”  What’s not to like?  So I began reading the reviews, there were over 545 for this one dish, and almost every review was a 5-star rating.  Not to mention the total prep and cook time was just 30 minutes.  I was sold.

The original recipe is as follows:

-       ¼ cup sesame seeds
-       1 (16 ounce) package of bow tie pasta
-       ½ cup vegetable oil
-       1/3 cup light soy sauce
-       1/3 cup rice vinegar
-       1 teaspoon sesame oil
-       3 tablespoons white sugar
-       ½ teaspoon ground ginger
-       ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
-       3 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast
-       1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
-       1/3 cup chopped green onion

Directions
1.    Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds, and cook stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2.    Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain pasta, and rinse under cold water until cool. Transfer to a large bowl.
3.    In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine vegetable oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, and pepper. Shake well.
4.    Pour sesame dressing over pasta, and toss to coat evenly. Gently mix in chicken, cilantro, and green onions.
Now the list of ingredients may look a bit daunting at first, so I’m providing pictures of some of the most uncommon items.  You can find them all in the Asian section of the grocery store, so it’s rather simple actually to find them.  You can also buy the sesame seeds pre-roasted so that you can completely skip step number one.

Like I mentioned before, I wanted to make something healthy, so I made some tweaks to the original recipe.  Instead of bow tie pasta, I used 3 packages of uncooked Ramen noodles.  I broke it up into medium pieces.  I wanted a less carbohydrate meal and also thought that the uncooked Ramen would add a nice crunchy texture to the dish.  This route also cut out a step in the directions and saved even more time.  In addition, I used extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil and added frozen peas and carrots to the mix.  I did this to make the meal more well-rounded.  I’m also not a huge cilantro fan, so I minced it and added it to the dressing rather than adding it chopped to the final dish.  After mixing it all together, I let it sit overnight to marinate together.

The dressing was fantastic.  Because the ingredients for the dressing are so standard, I can use it for other meals to give it that “Asian flare.”  I might use a tiny bit less soy sauce, but that’s a matter of taste.  I was also glad that I added the vegetables because the flavors all worked well together and gave the meal more oomph.  Next time I might try some water chestnuts or edamame.  I’m even thinking it might be good to add some chopped peanuts.  What I like most about this dish is that you can tweak it to your liking, and you can’t screw it up!  Add whatever you like! 

From an outside perspective, I brought my friend some for lunch to get a second opinion.  She loved it.  She said that not all of the Ramen was still crunchy but that it didn’t matter.  She loved all of the flavors together.  She said the dressing definitely had that Asian taste to it, which she enjoyed.  I thought she might lick the Tupperware clean!

So all-in-all, this dish was very successful!  I will definitely make it again, and I would even make this to bring to a cookout or family dinner.

Til next time!
~Kelley