Name: Pasta Salad with Chicken, Broccoli and Grapes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 300 g pasta (e.g. penne or fusilli); 2 pcs chicken fillet; 1 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp pepper; 1 tbsp neutral oil or butter; 1 pcs broccoli; 200 g green or red grape; 1 pcs red onion; 1.5 dl mayonnaise; 2 dl light sour cream; 2 tbsp sugar; 4 tbsp red wine vinegar; 50 g walnut kernels or almond

UntrainedChef

Tips from the kitchen

Rinse the pasta under cold water until it stops feeling warm, then let it drain properly. Warm pasta thins out the dressing and makes the whole thing greasy.
Give the chicken a real cooling-off before you cut it. Hot chicken pieces will warm the mayo and sour cream, and the salad turns sloppy.
Don't skip the broccoli stalk. Peel off the tough outer layer, dice the inside small, and you get a bit of crunch without waste.
The dressing tastes sharp from the vinegar straight out of the bowl, but it mellows once it sits on the pasta and grapes. Taste it after tossing, not before.
Add the nuts at the table, not in the bowl. Stirred in early they go soft and lose the point.

Ways to vary it

Red seedless grapes look nice against the broccoli, but green work the same. Use whichever you have.
If you want it lighter, swap some of the mayonnaise for extra sour cream or plain yogurt. The dressing gets a bit tangier.
Toasting the walnuts or almonds in a dry pan for a couple of minutes before chopping is an easy step that deepens the flavor.

Storage & leftovers

Keeps in the fridge for 2 to 3 days in a sealed container. It doesn't freeze well, the sour cream and mayo split and the broccoli goes mushy. Eat it cold straight from the fridge, no reheating needed, and add the nuts fresh each time.