Vegan Cold Chicken Piccata Pasta Salad with Asparagus & Spinach

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2016

To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

Chicken Piccata is one of the things I missed most when I gave up eating meat in the 80’s. Then – companies began making very convincing meatless chicken & that hole in my heart was cured. Behold my warm, vegan Chicken Piccata – below. REALLY convincing – trust me!

So – I had a few Memorial Day BBQ’s to attend & I was all about vegan pasta salads. They were a great idea because they assured that I would have something to eat at these parties & because vegan pasta salads – like the ones I made – were safe to leave out for hours without risk of spoiling. The other two I made were my Spicy Vegan Southwestern Pasta Salad & Pasta Salad with Arugula Pesto & Feta Cheese (Vegan or Vegetarian) – seen below, respectively.

I brought this Chicken Piccata Pasta Salad to a party at Naomi & Jason Priestley’s home. That is Naomi on the far left. I am the dimwit in the back who – it seems – was the only one there that didn’t know where to look when being photographed.

Anyway – Naomi took one bite & looked at me in shock. “McCarthy! Did you put real chicken in this?”

Needless to say – I hadn’t. But Beyond Meat chicken is so convincing – warm or cold – that it can fool even unapologetic, degenerate meat-eaters. This pasta salad disappeared quickly – and – besides Naomi – nobody ever questioned whether or not the chicken was real. I think they all assumed it was.

It is light & clean & healthy & vegan. If you are a Chicken Piccata lover – this salad is for you!

Vegan Cold Chicken Piccata Pasta Salad with Asparagus & Spinach

INGREDIENTS

1 lb pasta

9+ oz vegan chicken – cubed

1 bunch asparagus

1 cup fresh spinach

1/8 cup olive oil (more or less)

2 garlic cloves – minced

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (more or less)

3-6 TBS capers (Quantity determined by your taste for capers. I love them!) – chopped or not – or just chop some – your call

1/2 cup parsley – chopped

S&P

GARNISH – extra parsley & lemon wedges

DIRECTIONS

Trim the asparagus by holding each spear by each end & bend until it breaks. This breaks the asparagus just above the woody & impossible to chew part. Set aside.

Boil the pasta. My asparagus was the very thick kind. If you have the thick asparagus – add it to the boiling pasta 3 minutes before the pasta is done. Do it for 2 minutes for average asparagus & 1 minute for the very thin asparagus.

Drain & run under cold water.