Recipe: Pat's Chicken Pasta Salad with Bacon-Buttermilk Dressing

Pat's Chicken Pasta Salad with Bacon-Buttermilk Dressing
alt.cooking-chien/Cryambers (2000)
Makes 6-8 servings

This is a recipe I came up with one summer. I hadn't made it in a while and forgot how wonderful it is. I made it last night, and it was great. My husband had 4 helpings!

I was out of rotini and used penne instead. I usually just throw the spinach into the pot with the pasta for the last few minutes of cooking (but you've got to make sure you squeeze all of the liquid out of the spinach afterwards, which can be tricky when it's already mixed with the pasta). - pat

FOR THE SALAD:
2 whole chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
16 ounces rotelle pasta
6 oz. jar roasted red peppers
6 1/2 oz. can pitted black olives
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach

FOR THE DRESSING:
1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup chopped chives
6 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, then crumbled
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
Tabasco pepper sauce

Cook spinach and pasta according to package directions; drain and cool. Coarsely chop red peppers. Mix spinach, pasta, peppers, chicken and whole olives in a bowl until evenly distributed. Refrigerate until chilled thoroughly. Toss with dressing before serving.

To make the dressing for the salad, whisk all of the ingredients except bacon and chives together in a medium bowl. Mix in the bacon and chives until well-distributed. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before using.