BBQ Chicken Salad

Submitted by Crackatastic Uploaded by Djarum

The Heat Wave is upon us! Although using a grill this time of year is nice, it's also a good time to sit back and have some colder food now and then. This is no different.

I can't remember where we got this recipe, but it's a great lunch for hot days. You can be liberal with the ingredients, so I'll just give it all away.

Chopped, cooked chicken (Leftovers work WONDERS here, but if you have to, just buy the pre-cooked strips)
BBQ Sauce, own preference
Romaine Hearts, chopped and washed
Cooked Pasta (preferrably farfalle or penne)
"Candied" pecans (I'll get to this in a sec)
Crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Red grapes, washed
Poppyseed salad dressing

PRE-PRE-SETUP (Got no pics, didn't think to take any with the last batch)

The Candied Pecans- you can usually buy these at grocery stores, or use pralines, but around here, we like to make our own. It's quick and simple, but they take a day or two to cool.

4 cups pecans
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F, then mix the brown sugar and orange juice to a consistent matter, then pour in the pecans and coat them equally. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray, and spread out the pecans. Bake for 10-15 minutes, but (THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART) stir them around every 3 minutes or so to prevent the sugar from burning. Then lay out and let cool.

SETUP

-First, wash your lettuce and grapes, and start some water for the pasta.
-Second, place your chicken in a bowl and pour on the BBQ sauce. You only want to coat the chicken, not drown it. Plus, the leftover chicken we used was already barbecued, so we didn't use much here as is. When it's evenly coated, nuke the stuff for 30-45 seconds to get the chill off

-Third, by now, your water should be ready, so toss in the pasta and get that shit cooked to al dente. Then strain and set aside

THE PILE-UP

(Don't mind the fruity tablecloth and random clutter- this isn't my place)

Now for the fun part. I would normally say just pile on what you want, but there's an order to this. So follow my lead and pile on like so:

1) The Lettuce

2) The Pasta

3) The Chicken

4) The Grapes

5) The Dressing

6) The Cheese (not pictured, because I hate that crap)
7) Top it off with the Pecans

Simple enough, right? With the diversity of the items, you get a blend of flavors with every bite, and more often than not, it's pretty good (except for the cheese, fuck I hate that stuff)

Finally, you may grab a brew and your and DIG IN