Bow Tie Pasta Salad with Chicken

THIS satisfying salad is ideal for a light lunch. Also ideal to carry as a packed lunch, or as a dish to take along for a potluck. My kids love it. Try it for a change. This quantity is for three servings but that depends on the size of appetites. Vary the quantity proportionately to suit your taste and needs.

What you need:

1 1/2 cups bow tie pasta
2 boneless chicken breasts
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons
of basil pesto (see
recipe under Labels: Italian)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100 ml fresh cream

Cook the pasta as per instructions on the pack, drain and drizzle the olive oil on it. Cook the chicken breasts, char grill the peppers and deseed the tomatoes. Dice all these ingredients and combine with the pasta. Add the pesto and cream and toss to coat.

PS: Cook the chicken in two cups of water to which you can add a chopped onion, a tomato, a small piece of ginger, a little green coriander and salt to taste. Reserve the chicken stock to make a light soup.

Basil Pesto

ITALIAN food only makes an occasional guest appearance on my culinary stage. If I may liken the ingredients to actors, then of course, they must all be available together for any drama to happen. Some of the lesser performers like the pine nuts, Parmesan and olive oil were already around, waiting in the wings kind of. But without fresh basil, the star of the show, they had no great role to play.

So when I finally found some fresh basil at the local grocery, which does not always stock it, I picked it up and got the pesto act together without a second thought!

What I used:

100 gms fresh basil, de-stalked
55 gms pine nuts, lightly toasted
55 gms grated Parmesan
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 fat garlic cloves
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt to taste

Pulse basil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor, adding the olive oil in a slow stream. Add the Parmesan too and mix well. Add the lemon and salt to your taste. Pesto can also be frozen for future use, in which case it might be a good idea to leave the cheese out and add it just before use.

Although pesto and pasta are made for each other, pesto can also play versatile roles, such as a dip, or a drizzle over a vegetable soup, as a mix with steamed veggies or as a sandwich spread with a bit of mayo to make it creamy and spreadable....the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

When you have a puppet in your hands, make it dance!

However, use sparingly lest it overpower the main ingredients of the dish.