Favorite Ingredients Friday for August 10

It's the Salad Edition of Favorite Ingredients Friday! Here's my very favorite:

GREEK PASTA SALAD

2 cups cold cooked chicken in bite-size pieces
8 ounces rotini, cooked as package directs
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 large sweet red pepper, chopped
3 or 4 green onions, thinly sliced
Small can sliced black olives, or as many whole black olives as you like
2 to 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Mustard-Tarragon Dressing (recipe follows) OR 1 cup Italian dressing

Mustard-Tarragon Dressing:
2/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, split (or use 1/2 tsp. dried minced garlic)
1 Tblsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. pepper
Combine all in a jar and shake very well.

Combine dressing with salad ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It should be served cold.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

This recipe is from Cook & Tell, my favorite cooking newsletter. This salad always goes over well whenever I serve it. If I want to make it as a side dish, I just leave out the chicken.


I often make a batch of the dressing to have on hand. It's a good marinade and also a quick dressing for any pasta or veggie salad.