Poslfit Recipes: Chicken Pasta Salad

1 supermarket roast chicken, cooked, deboned, leaving about 1 L of loosely packed meat, sliced

1 lb. fusilli or rotini, cooked, drained, rinsed

1 c. scallions, chopped

1 c. parsley

2 c. green beans, cooked, chopped

2 c. tomatoes, diced

1 375 g can of sliced black olives, drained

1 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. lemon juice

1/4 c. Japanese vinegar

2 t. Anton Kozlik's "Balsamic Figs & Dates" mustard

2 t. sugar

1 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. shichimi

2 t. grated ginger

pinch of salt

Based on a recipe I found at ChefMom's site, credited to a DanaD. I've changed most of the proportions and made some substitutions, to correspond to what I have in my kitchen or can find at my supermarket in Toronto. I've made this once using tricolor rotini, but found it a little too busy, so will try it with just white rotini next time.

The second time I made this it was just for two-year-old Jamie, Kristen and me, so I halved the recipe and made some more substitutions based on what was in the fridge. I used 200 g chicken, 250 g pasta, 25 g scallions, 50 g chopped fresh celery, 120 g chopped grilled zucchini, 150 g tomatoes, 100 g sliced kalamata olives from Alex Farms, 80 g etorki cheese (also from Alex Farms). I halved the dressing ingredients, except that I used a lime instead of lemon juice, and I couldn't find the shichimi. The recipe turned out fine, and we had two servings leftover.

Mix the first half of the list of ingredients, up to and including the olives.

Make a dressing out of the remaining ingredients.

Combine, chill and serve.