Pecan Lime Chicken

This chicken is not what it was stared out being.  The original idea for dinner was Grilled Chicken with Garlic Walnut Lime Sauce.  Uhmmm...yea, a tad bit different then Pecan Lime Chicken.  Here's what happened:

When making my grocery list the other day, I just KNEW that I had walnuts in the freezer from something I just made recently.  So I peaked into the freezer and sure enough, there was a small bag of some form of nut.  I immediately "assumed" that they were walnuts and I went on my merry way.  Flash forward a few days - As I start to get the ingredients together for the sauce, I reached into the freezer to pull out the bag of "walnuts" and lo and behold.....they were pecans!! CRAP!!!  Well...walnuts and pecans, they can be intermixed right???  Wrong!  At least not in this sauce.  The sauce had this taste... this odd taste to it.  I can't really explain it.. it was just odd and I don't think it would have had that had I used actual walnuts.  I tasted the sauce again and again and just couldn't convince myself that it was good enough to serve as a sauce....but I didn't want to throw it all away.... so I thought.. Ok, let's improvise, let's just pour it over the chicken...I'm going to grill it anyway, it can't hurt it at least, right???  And what do you know.... it actually turned out much better than expected!! YAY!!

So even though I did not get the sauce I was hoping for, we did get a great piece of chicken that was surprisingly simple to throw together.  You can't beat that!

Pecan Lime Chicken
Strangely adapted from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue!
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts cut off (I actually used honey wheat bread because we had it on hand)
2 Tablespoons pecans, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 Tablespoon lime juice
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Place the slices of bread in a bowl and add enough warm water to cover.  Let the bread soak for 5 minutes, then drain it well in a strainer.  Using your hands, squeeze the bread well to wring out any excess liquid. (it's a gross job, I know, but it must be done!!)

Place the bread, pecans, and garlic in a food processor and puree to a smooth paste.  Withe the processor running, gradually work in the lime juice, vegetable oil, and olive oil in a thin stream to obtain a smooth sauce.  Add the salt and pepper and pulse just to combine.  Pour over chicken and allow to marinate for 1-4 hours (the longer the better).

Preheat grill to medium-high.  Oil grill grates.  Remove chicken from marinade and place directly over the fire.  Grill for 8-10 minutes per side or until chicken is cooked through.  Remove from grill and allow to sit for 3 minutes before cutting into it.  Enjoy!

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