Roasted Red Pepper Salad

I love this!!! It isn't a very kid-friendly dish so you may want to save it for a social occasion where you need to bring something. OR, you can do what I do and fix this for the adults and make mac & cheese for the kids.
This picture is to help you realize HOW blackened the red peppers need to be. I have gotten mine blacker than this in the past and pulling the skins off was a breeze. I got a little impatient this time around and let them cool off at the point you see below and it was torture getting the skins off. LESSON LEARNED. Be patient and let those skins get nice and black.
A friend of mine gave me this "recipe" which is really a list of ingredients. Basically if you are one of those people who likes to play around with ingredients and amounts (me) then this "recipe" is for you. IF, however, you are one of those people that follows directions down to the last 1/8 of a teaspoonful, well then... you may want to look elsewhere.

Here's the general idea:
2 large red peppers
2-3 hearts of romaine
2 grilled chicken breasts
1 handful pasta of your choice
1/4 C. red wine vinegar
1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. crushed garlic (I buy it in the pre-crushed jar)

to taste:
crumbled bacon
parmesan
salt & pepper

Now- I wrote in amounts trying to gauge about what I do when making this. But if you like it meatier, pasta-ier, more lettuce, etc. It's really not gonna mess this up. You almost can't ruin it. First you cut the peppers in half and broil them until blackened. I would say 7-10 min. (as previously stated, I DO mean blackened, just don't murder them). Let them cool. I baste my chicken in EVOO salt & pepper before grilling and I grill them butterflied (because that's how I like to do it) while the pepper is cooling. Then I peel the skins off the peppers and cut them into slices. Marinate the pepper slices in the EVOO, vinegar and garlic as shown below.
I've always let mine marinate for at least an hour, but again maybe you like your peppers less vinegar-y. The rest is super easy just toss everything (assuming you have also cooked your pasta) in a large bowl. I save the oil and vinegar mixture and pour the desired amount over the salad. Usually the amount it took to marinate is way too much for the dressing- but I don't like much dressing. Be creative- add some ingredients I don't have listed. I've been thinking of trying sauteed mushrooms in this for a while but I always wimp out. Afraid to ruin a good thing I guess.

Now, I know that a close-up picture of a hand isn't very appetizing but I just couldn't leave this out. As I was taking my peppers out of the oven I burned my wrist. This occurred TWO MONTHS before I took this picture. It looked pretty nasty. My daughter was very impressed that it looked like a heart. Please, even if you happen to like hearts, be careful in the kitchen!!! (I realize that most likely no one will ever read these posts except for myself and my daughters so this is a mom speaking to her children down through the years. Be careful. If you are anything like me and I know you are.)