Toulouse Chicken Pasta Salad

By danand

Recipe by Cyndy on the Creative Exchange:
I may be a little bold in making the title of this post “The Most Delicious” but trust me, this chicken pasta salad recipe is really out of this world. The grapes, dill weed, blanched asparagus and shredded fresh parmesan take this salad to a whole new level of pasta salad wonderful-ness.

I can’t take full credit for the recipe. It was inspired by a D’Amico Brothers restaurant that use to be in downtown Minneapolis called “Toulouse” that served this amazing pasta salad. Sadly {and yes, oddly}, I ate this pasta salad almost daily for close to five years when I use to work downtown with the goal of trying to copy figure out this recipe. After a couple years of tweaking and trying to guess each ingredient and seasonings, I finally got the recipe to my satisfaction. Of course, it’s not identical to the original recipe but it sure tastes pretty darn close!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 2 1/2(two 1/2(two and a half) Cups of uncooked Penne Pasta
• Small Small store bought rotisserie chicken shredded into small pieces (Makes all of the
• 3 using a rotisserie chicken because of the flavoring) Or 3 boiled and shredded chicken breasts.
• Half of a bundle of asparagus
• 2 2 2 cups of sliced purple seedless grapes (slice in half)
• 6 6 6 oz of Shredded Parmesan Cheese (I usually pick up pre-shredded, not grated)
• 1 1 to 3/4th 1/2 (Real Mayonnaise) *** I like my pasta salad really creamy with a lot of dressing. Reduce Mayo to 3/4th cup or even 1/2 cup if you do not care for a lot of dressing
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 3 3 3 teaspoons of dill weed seasoning
• 1 1 to teaspoons salt (taste at the end and add more to your liking)
• 2 2 to teaspoons lemon pepper (taste at the end and add more to your liking)
• 1 1 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• to pepper to taste

Details

Adapted from thecreativityexchange.com

Preparation

Step 1

1) Boil the pasta al dente and drain- I add a teaspoon of olive oil to my water and it helps to keep the pasta from sticking together when it's drained and cooled ***Hint** Run cold water over your pasta and toss with ice cubes in the colander to get the pasta cold and it won't take as long to "chill" your salad to eat.
2) I pat dry my pasta with a paper towel after I have drained it because the pasta is creamier when the pasta is completely dry.
3) Add the Mayo, sour cream and all seasonings and mix well. I use a large wooden spoon to mix the salad.
4) Add the shredded chicken and 2/3rds of the parmesan and mix (save the rest for the top of the salad).
5) Cut the bottom ends of the asparagus off (about an inch off of the ends and toss) and then cut the rest into bit size pieces. Blanch (boil for exactly two minutes) and then drain and immediately submerge pieces into an ice water bath and let sit for two minutes. This makes the asparagus crispy. Pat dry the blanched asparagus and mix into the salad.
6) Add the sliced grapes and finish mixing.
7) Taste and add any additional salt, pepper or dill to your liking
8) Chill for at least 2-3 hours and serve by adding the rest of the parmesan to the top of the