Pasta Salad with Lemon Rosemary Chicken and Roasted Vegetables

As planned, I experimented a bit yesterday and made a new pasta salad. Luckily, it turned out well! :o)

I started by marinating some chicken in:

• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• Fresh rosemary - I cut off just a few inches off our rosemary plant and finely chopped the needles I had taken of the sprig
  

I actually marinated the chicken around noon on Thursday as I had planned on making the salad on Thursday. However, our plans changed (again), and I didn't have a chance to make the salad. I was a bit worried that the chicken was marinating too long. But it turned out very well, and all the chicken pieces were really juicy and tasted like lemon with just a hint of rosemary. I love rosemary, but I think the trick is not to use too much as it can easily overpower all the other flavors in a dish.

On Friday, I simply sauteed the chicken (instead of barbecuing it). Here is the cooked chicken, the Tomato Basil Almond Pesto, and the uncooked pasta (I boiled half the bag). I really like the Chiocciole pasta shape...

I roasted some green beans and a red bell pepper. I simply tossed them with some olive oil and a little salt & pepper. Here they are before they went into the oven...

And here they are after they roasted for about 35 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees...

And here are all the pasta salad ingredients pre-assembly.

There are two chicken breasts cut in half in the picture. However, only about three of the pieces made it into the salad. The other ended up in hubby's tummy. He loved the juicy, flavorful chicken... :o)
And here is the pasta salad assembled. I sprinkled a little feta on it before serving it.

All the flavors worked really well together. We'll have this pasta salad again... :o)

Questions: Do you like pasta salad? If so, what are your favorite ingredients? What are you up to this weekend?

Be well,
Andrea