Sunday, May 25, 2008

Chicken Pasta Salad with Fried Shallots



I took this salad to a family reunion last night and I got a lot of compliments on it. The fried shallots are soooo good on this.

Chicken Pasta Salad with Fried Shallots

1/2 pound penne pasta
2 cups thinly sliced shallots
2 cups vegetable oil
salt
1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded
1/2 of an English cucumber, thinly sliced
10 radishes, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 small bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped (I skipped this since I didnt have any)
grated peel and juice of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp honey
Pepper

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a medium sauce pan, bring the shallots and oil to a simmer over medium heat and fry, stirring until golden, 18-20 min (this took about 10 minutes for me) Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Reserve 1/4 cup shallot oil for the dressing.

In a large serving bowl, combine the chicken, cucumber, radishes, carrots, cilantro and pasta.

Whisk the lime peel and juice and honey into the shallot oil. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the salad and season with more salt and toss to coat evenly. Top with the fried shallots.

3 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

This looks delicious! The use of fried shallots reminds me of a few asian dishes where we sometimes garnish with fried garlic for flavor and texture. Thanks for sharing this!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I love the idea of the fried shallots. Makes it a totlaly fun dish!

Unknown said...

I am always looking for new recipe ideas for pasta and this one sounds great. I think I"ll try it with Al Dente Lemon Chive Fettuccine. When I do, I'll post the results on my blog aldentecanoodler.wordpress.com so you can see how it turns out.