Ingredients:

for the dressing:
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the salad:
2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
1 large tomato, chopped
4 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked and chopped
4 oz crumbled Gorgonzola
1 bunch green onion, chopped
12 oz  chopped romaine lettuce, cabbage, radish and carrot mix
5 oz ditalini pasta, cooked and well-drained

Directions:
In a salad dressing shaker or lidded jar, shake together the dressing ingredients until well combined. Toss together all of the salad ingredients. Set aside. If possible, allow to sit 30-60 minutes prior to serving.

Place all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl, toss to combine. Drizzle with dressing and toss again. Serve immediately.

My thoughts:

I admit it, I don’t know if the St Paul Chopped Salad is a “thing” the way the Cobb or the Caesar are; I couldn’t find much information about it online at all. I had one last year on a trip to Minnesota when the only food options within walking distance were in the Mall of America. I ate at the Twin City Grill (twice!) which was actually pretty good and had what they called the “St Paul Chopped Salad”. What caught my attention was that it combined, chicken, blue cheese, lettuce, bacon and pasta. Pasta! It was a somewhat odd addition but it was good. I mentally filed it away as something to make at home one day.

It took longer than I thought but finally, I made it for dinner. I picked up some very late tomatoes from the farm store, used rotisserie chicken, had gorgonzola leftover from job and had a bag of Dole chopped salad mix* on hand so it was a quick meal to pull together. A good thing since I had a busy day canning and little energy for dinner-making. Luckily, it came together and was as good as I remembered.

*If you don’t have this, chop up 1 large romaine head, 1/4 of a green cabbage, 1/4 of a red cabbage, 4 radishes and 1 large carrot.