creamy pesto pasta salad with chicken, asparagus and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• creamy buttermilk dressing:
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• pasta salad:
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 pound bow tie (farfalle) pasta
• 8 ounces trimmed asparagus, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 pound cooked chicken breast strips, pulled into bite-size pieces
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted
• 1 (14 ounce) can whole artichoke hearts, drained, cut into sixths
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted in a small skillet over low heat until golden
• 1/4 cup pesto (homemade or refrigerated prepared variety)

Recipe

• mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl; keep chilled until ready to toss with salad. (store in clean jar with lid.)
• bring 1 gallon of water and 2 tbs. of salt to boil in a large soup kettle. add pasta and, using package times as a guide, boil, stirring frequently and adding asparagus the last 1 minute, until just tender. drain thoroughly (do not rinse) and dump a large, lipped cookie sheet. set aside to cool while preparing remaining salad ingredients.
• place all salad ingredients (except buttermilk dressing) in a large bowl or transfer to a gallon-size zippered bag. (can be covered and refrigerated several hours at this point.) when ready to serve, add dressing; toss to coat and serve.