Cooking with herbs: Tarragon

I love the taste of tarragon.  I know some people don't care for it, but if you do, here's a recipe I adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.  The original called for asparagus, but (gasp) I'm kinda tired of asparagus.  Plus my wonderful husband likes "protein" in every meal, so I added some chicken.  Here's what I did:

• Tarragon Pasta Salad with Prosciutto, Chicken, and Romano
• 8 ounces uncooked cavatappi pasta or elbow macaroni (I used rotini)
• 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 3 ounces prosciutto, chopped
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 1 cup diced tomato
• 2 chicken breasts
• 6 tablespoons light mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for chicken
•  Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 ounces pecorino Romano cheese, grated (about 1/3 cup packed)
• 
  
• Preparation
• 1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain.
• 2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add prosciutto, and cook for 6 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove prosciutto from pan using a slotted spoon, leaving drippings in pan. Drain prosciutto on paper towels. Add the shallots to drippings in pan; cook over medium heat for 1 minute or until shallots are tender, stirring frequently.
• 3.  Add remaining olive oil to skillet.  Flatten chicken breasts to even thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap.  Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt.  Cook chicken about 5 minutes or until browned; turn and cook on other side until brown.  Chicken should be just barely done.  Remove from pan, wrap in aluminum foil and let sit for 5 minutes.  Remove from foil and chop.
• 4. Combine mayonnaise, lemon rind, tarragon, juice, pepper, and salt in a large bowl; stir well. Add pasta, prosciutto, shallots, tomato, chopped chicken, and cheese; toss well to coat. 

1. I don't have a picture of the finished dish, so here's a picture that a friend of ours took recently in North Carolina.  It's pretty.

Bass Lake, Blowing Rock, NC