Grilled Pasta Salad

Nothing like grilled vegetables mixed with pasta, chicken, bacon and cheese for a delicious lunch or light dinner served with your favorite bread and fresh fruit. Even my dh enjoys this one, minus the feta, he prefers shredded asiago or parmesan cheese on his salad.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  cups pasta, small shells (or your personal favorite)
• 3 -4  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1  sweet onion, wedged
• 1  skewer, large
• 1⁄2 sweet pepper, orange, quartered
• 1⁄2 sweet pepper, yellow, quartered
• 1  bunch asparagus (trim the woody ends)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, coarse, sea
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2  teaspoons  white balsamic vinegar
• 1  teaspoon roasted garlic, paste
• 1  teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1  cup chicken breast, skinless, cooked (chopped or shredded)
• 4  slices bacon, fried (crisp and crumbled)
• 15  cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 12  green olives, with pimento, cut in half
• 1⁄3 cup feta, greek (crumbled or diced)
• 3  tablespoons basil, fresh, chopped
• 4  basil sprigs, small, fresh, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat barbeque to medium high.
2. Cook the pasta according to directions on package, drain and toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent it from sticking, set aside until needed.
3. Slice the onion into thick wedges, thread onto skewer, brush with 1 tsp oilive oil, set aside until needed.
4. Place the yellow and orange peppers and asparagus in a bowl, add 2 tsp of olive oil and toss to coat. Season the vegetables with 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper.
5. Grill the peppers and onion skewer, until tender and charred (10 minutes) and grill the asparagus until lightly charred and tender-crisp (5 minutes).
6. Remove vegetables from grill allow to cool, then finely chop the onion and peppers .
7. Chop the asparagus into 1 inch pieces and set aside until needed.
8. In a large bowl whisk the remaining olive oil , salt and pepper, as well as the vinegar, garlic paste and mustard.
9. Once the dressing is prepared add to the dressing the onion, peppers, asparagus, chicken , bacon, tomatoes, olives, cheese and chopped basil.
10. Make sure to mix well coating all ingredients, if necessary drizzle with a little extra olive oil.
11. Taste, reseason if necessary and garnish with the basil sprig.
12. Enjoy!