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What’s For Dinner?
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DEL.ICIO.USThree cheers for easy dinners!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Somehow I thought things were going to slow down once summer came. That presumption has turned out to be completely incorrect. For many families, like my own, summer sports take up even more time than those during school. Many swim teams practice almost every evening. My son’s travel baseball team seems to have practice or game at least 4 nights each week.
Since we are often eating on the run or taking our dinner with us I have started experimenting with “transportable” food, especially sandwiches.
Grilled thin-sliced chicken breast sandwiches have become my “go to meal.” But my picky family won’t go for just a plain sandwich. Oh no. To qualify as “dinner food” it has to be spiffed up so I have been trying different toppings.
I recently made one for my 5:30 Challenge column with an Italian spin that was a huge hit. I grilled pancetta, a rolled spiced Italian bacon, along side the chicken (adding it to the grill once I flipprd the chicken). Plain mayo got a boost of freshness from adding minced basil from my herb garden. A fresh Kaiser roll made the meal complete.
Another favorite is coating the chicken with barbecue sauce and topping it with shredded cheddar cheese after flipping, so it gets all gooey and melted. If I have leftover bacon I’ll add that too. Another great option is Barbecue Chicken with Cole Slaw. If we need to eat them at a game, I just wrap them up. They travel extremely well.
What turns your chicken sandwiches from simple to spectacular?
Comments
By JustMe
June 30, 2008 8:04 PM | Link to this
Try Paula Deen’s big lady new millennium sandwich…it turned out awesome and my kids, and husband loved it!
3 cups chicken, diced (or a 1 to 3-pound chicken) Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 chopped onion 2 celery stalks plus 2 cups chopped 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped 2 teaspoons seasoning salt 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning 2 tablespoons reserved chicken stock 4 tablespoons butter, divided 8 slices sourdough bread 8 to 12 whole pimentos, drained 8 to 12 deli-sliced cheddar cheese
Place the chicken along with the salt, pepper, onion, and celery stalks in a large stockpot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from pot, cool, and remove skin and bones, if using whole chicken. Reserve the liquid. Dice the chicken and place in a large bowl. Add the chopped celery, eggs, seasoning salt, mayonnaise, lemon-pepper, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and some reserved stock and mix well.
Butter 1 side each bread slice. Divide chicken mixture among 4 of the slices on the unbuttered side. Add whole pimentos, 2 to 3, and sliced deli Cheddar. Cover with the remaining 4 slices of bread, buttered side up.
Preheat an indoor grill/panini press. Place sandwiches on the grill/panini press and grill for a few minutes on each side.
I have really turned into a big fan of paninis this summer…they are so easy to make and can make a wide variety of sandwiches with little effort!
The tweaks I made to this recipe was to just steam/boil my chicken in chicken broth vs doing the whole making stock thing. I also added onions into my chicken salad..I LOVE onions! I also don’t use salt in my cooking, so used no salt added seasoning…like Mrs. Dashs….and the chicken shortcut saves LOTS of time and mess! Also, go easy on mayo….and make a double batch…you’ll love it!