Asparagus Pasta Salad

Cossetta's in down town St Paul has a pasta salad called Penne Chicken Salad. It has chicken, asparagus, red bell peppers, green onions and parsley with a vinaigrette dressing. So I tried to make a copy of it. This is what I came up with what was in my refrigerator. It made a large container of it with 6 oz of dried pasta. Cossetta's charged almost $13 for this size. See photo. 

6 oz dried ziti or penne pasta

5 asparagus sticks woody ends snapped off

red onion sliced as much as you like

cucumber diced (I had leftover in my refrigerator)

cherry tomatoes sliced (around 6 whole tomatoes)

parsley fresh chopped maybe 1-2 TBLS

basil fresh 4 leaves chopped

DRESSING

1/3 cup avocado oil

1/8 cup Champaign vinegar (for the tang, you can use other vinegars)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1 tsp dijon mustard 

1 TBL sugar (I used Monkfruit sweetener) 

Boil the noodles as directed on the box.

The last 2 minutes of cooking time add in asparagus to the boiling pasta 

Drain pasta and asparagus under cold water, then pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess water. 

cut up vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, basil, parsley and onion)

Add vegetables to the cold pasta and asparagus.

Mix together the dressing ingredients and shake to mix

Add enough dressing on pasta and vegetables to coat. you won't use all of it. 

store in the refrigerator .

when you go to eat it if you need to add more dressing because the pasta soaked in the dressing you can freshen it up with the leftover pasta. 

COSSETTA'S INGREDIENTS IN THEIR PASTA

Penne pasta 6 oz to fit the container

chicken chunks

asparagus

red peppers

green onions

parsley

then a vinaigrette 

So you make it how you would like it. I didn't have red bell peppers but I would have rather put them in there instead of tomatoes. it holds up better in the refrigerator. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE