I made this Sesame Salad tonight and I got to say I love it! Can you say super easy? Matt wasn't here so I don't have an opinion from him though. Sorry!
There is 4 parts to this bad boy:
1. the salad dressing (this is by far the most complicated part with 8 items)
2. cooked, shredded chicken
3. cooked pasta
4. and then top it with cilantro and green onions
Ease of Preparation: A
- This came together in under a 1/2 hour and would have been even faster if I had the chicken already cooked. I love the idea of BBQing a bunch of chicken, shredding it, and freezing it. If only I would DO it.
- Not that the dressing was hard at all to make, and it was so yummy, but if you were trying to find a use for bottled Asian dressing this would be a good place for it.
- I BBQed the chicken, just salting it beforehand, and shredded it when it was done. You could cook the chicken anyway you want though. Is it ok to mention here that thawing chicken in the microwave is NOT a good idea if you want chicken that doesn't have the texture of rubber? Super nasty. I totally didn't know this for many, many years of gross chicken. How? I do not know.
- I didn't have cilantro but I'm sure that would add to the deliciousness factor. (I cannot believe that "deliciousness" didn't earn me a misspelled red squiggly line. Is that a word? Wow.)
- I didn't mix it all together in a serving dish but instead did it on our plates. I knew that there was no way we were eating all that food and didn't want the pasta to get soggy overnight. But maybe it would have just made all the flavors better as the chicken and pasta absorbed the dressing? Where's Alton Brown when we need him?
Taste: A-
- This salad is really good. I'm only giving it an A- because it could have used something else... I'm not sure what... Maybe something crunchy, like slivered almonds or raw Top Ramen noodles like in that cabbage salad? Not sure.
Overall: A-
- This would make an awesome meal to take to a neighbor: fast, easy, super good, and one container.
Oh and if you're looking for a place to refill your sesame seed container after putting 1/4 cup into the dressing, I filled mine for $.43 at Winco a few weeks back. I guess I'll be visiting there again sometime soon to do it again.
I like to thaw chicken under cool running water. it works much better and you don't get any of the rubbery parts. :)
ReplyDeleteCasey, I totally do the same thing when I've forgotten to pull out the chicken in advance to thaw, which is just about every time I use chicken. Actually, I usually think about it so late that instead of cool water, it ends up being HOT water.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that book Dad's going to write about Mom? "Cooking on High?" Yeah, I might be a little bit like her.
Pampered Chef has an AWESOME new thing called a deep covered baker. It's stoneware with a lid, that you can use in the microwave. 1 chicken breast from frozen to done in about 10 minutes, with a wonderful texture.
ReplyDelete