Roasted Capsicum Pesto Pasta and Chicken Salad

Something Truly Delicious

We eat pesto pasta, green pasta, A LOT. This is because A) it is my youngest’s favourite meal and B) it is quick and easy to prepare. It is also great to make the pesto in advance to have on a night when you are short on time. But have you tried red pesto pasta? Yes, when I say red I am referring to roasted capsicum pesto, here it is in Roasted Capsicum Pesto Pasta and Chicken Salad. This, incidently, is a salad but it is versatile enough to serve hot as well. I have been serving it as a salad because even though it is November we have had some very hot days when the last thing you would want for dinner is a hot meal. There is something about capsicums that when they are roasted and combined with garlic, some nuts, a few sun dried tomatoes, oil and cheese they are simply delicious and a refreshing change from other pasta sauces including green pesto sauce.

How Is This  Salad Versitile?

Roasted capsicum pesto sauce is easily made in advance and kept in the fridge, ready to stir through pasta. Here I combined it with chicken but you don’t have to do that. If you have time to include chicken it is a very satisfying meal, hot or cold. For the salad pictured I used roast chicken. The day I served this salad it was fiery hot and Sydney was deemed to experience a catastrophic fire risk. So we used roast chicken which I cooked myself the night before. This was because I did not want to turn on the oven on a very hot day. You have the choice of doing that or you could poach 2 or 3 chicken breasts and shred the meat. Or you could even buy a BBQ chicken instead. If you would prefer a vegetarian meal just leave the chicken out and you still get the wonderful flavours of the roasted capsicum pesto. Do try Roasted Capsicum Pesto Pasta and Chicken Salad. It takes the ho hum out of everyday cooking and is a very achievable meal with limited effort.