Soy Sauce Chicken and Peach Pasta Salad

There was an article in the local newspaper’s food section on barbequed peaches. That gave me the idea to include peaches in a chicken salad that I was about to make using leftovers from the Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken (Siu¹ Haau¹ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Gai¹, 燒烤豉油雞) recipe. While I didn’t barbeque the peaches, they tasted great after briefly baking (after halving and pitting) in my toaster oven.

I used a balsamic yogurt dressing and it turned out to be an OK dressing, but it lacked the tang I expected. The next time I made this dressing, I used rice vinegar, instead of balsamic, and upped the amount of lemon/lime juice, and it tasted much better. The yogurt dressing is also healthier than a mayonnaise based dressing.

The first crop of cherry tomatoes from my garden was also available, along with some very small Sungold tomatoes (some no larger than ⅛ of an inch). I also included button mushrooms and some basil to complete the pasta salad. In addition to the pasta salad, I made Garlic Garlic Bread to complete the meal.

Enjoy!

Salad Ingredients

16 ozs. Rotelle Pasta (or any pasta of your choice)

½ tsp. Salt (for adding to the pasta cooking water)

1 deboned Grilled Soy Sauce Chicken Breast, diced

1 cup Cherry Tomatoes (I also added Sungold Tomatoes)

1 Yellow Peach, roasted (can also be barbequed) and diced

½ lbs. Button Mushrooms, diced

3 Green Onion Stalks, sliced

3 medium sized Shallots, diced

3 Tbs. Capers

¼ cup Feta Cheese

¼ cup Basil, chopped roughly

Yogurt Dressing Ingredients

1 cup Plain Non-Fat Yogurt

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ cup Rice Vinegar

1 Tbs. Sesame Oil

2 Limes or 1 Lemon, juiced

1 Tbs. Coleman’s Mustard Powder

6 Garlic Cloves, crushed in a garlic press

½ tsp. Salt (or to taste)

½ tsp. Ground Black Pepper

Pasta Salad Preparation Instructions

1. Add salt and bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a pot to cook the pasta.
2. When the water is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for the manufacturer’s recommended cooking time until the pasta is al dente.
3. Drain the pasta in a colander and cool with cold water. Put the pasta into a large mixing bowl.
4. Dice the soy sauce chicken (or any leftover chicken) and add it to the mixing bowl with the pasta. The grilled soy sauce chicken recipe can be found here.
5. Wash and de-stem the tomatoes, and add them to the mixing bowl.
6. Wash, halve, and remove the pit from the peach. Roast the peach halves in a toaster oven until the peach is slightly brown, around 10 minutes at 470⁰F (or the peaches can be barbequed beforehand). Dice the peach halves and add to the mixing bowl.
7. Wash and dice the button mushrooms, and add to mixing bowl.
8. Wash and slice the green onions, and add to the mixing bowl.
9. Dice the shallots and add to the mixing bowl.
10. Add the capers to the mixing bowl.
11. Add the feta cheese to the mixing bowl.
12. Wash and roughly chop the basil, and add to the mixing bowl.
13. Mix the ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Yogurt Dressing Preparation Instructions

1. Place the yogurt, olive oil, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lime or lemon juice, mustard powder, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl and mix together vigorously.
2. Pour the dressing into the mixing bowl with the salad ingredients and mix together.
3. Put the pasta salad into the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.
4. Serve with Garlic Garlic Bread.