Recipe of the Week: Tropical Chicken Salad on Croissants

This year for Easter dinner I decided to keep it ultra casual. With it only being the three of us I decided against making a big ham dinner. In discussing what we would do instead, Kevin and I decided that it would be nice to pack a picnic and have an early dinner at one of the beautiful parks at a nearby winery. So when planning the meal, a picnic was first and foremost on my mind. Yesterday I went to Trader Joes and stocked up on everything I needed to prepare the picnic faire. However when watching the weather report late last night I saw that it called for the temps to be in the mid 60's and overcast...not the best weather for a picnic; so our picnic at the park became a picnic in our family room. Seriously....we all sat indian style around the coffee table and had our Easter "picnic" dinner. I LOVE these sandwiches. The recipe was given to me by Lisa P. who is an old neighbor from Roseville. I love making these in the spring and summer. The cool, bursting with flavor chicken salad on the buttery, flaky croissant is a marriage made in sandwich heaven.

Here is what you will need:

2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1 8 oz. can drained pineapple chunks
1/3 c. celery, chopped fine
1/3 c. mayonaise
1/4 c. toasted almonds, sliced
2 T. chopped green onion
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 11 oz can drained mandarin oranges
4-8 butter croissants

(the above salad recipe generously fills 8 croissant sandwiches..I cut the recipe in 1/2 and it yielded 4 croissant sandwiches)
Up until recently, whenever a recipe called for "cooked chicken" I would poach it. However the other day while watching The Barefoot Contessa on The Food Network, she stated that roasting/baking the chicken for chicken salads gave the salad so much more flavor. Boy was she right. I noticed a huge difference in the flavor of this salad by simpling roasting/baking the chicken vs poaching it.

Wash and pat dry 2 large chicken breasts or 4 small. (1 large breast yields 1 cup of cooked chopped chicken)  Place in a casserole dish that has been sprayed with non stick spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool and chop into small cubes.

Finely chop the celery and green onions. Cut the pineapple chunks and mandarin oranges into smaller, bite size pieces. Add to the chicken.

Sprinkle with the garlic powder and almonds and  gently fold in the mayonaise until all is combined.

Next, slice croissants in 1/2 and fill with the salad.

Add a piece of romaine lettuce, cut in 1/2 and serve.

Enjoy!