Pesto Chicken Sandwich

Whenever I make fresh pesto there's always going to be some left over. Here I'm making a grilled chicken pesto sandwich on crusty Italian bread. The key to this sandwich is keeping it simple with sliced Roma tomato's and arugula.  

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breast

Sliced provolone cheese

Pesto

Mayo

Roma tomato's

Arugula

Crusty sliced Italian bread

Preparation:

Take the chicken breast and cut in half so the chicken breast is half a thick. Place the chicken breast on your cutting board, cover with plastic wrap and pound the chicken breast so it's about a 1/2" thick. Repeat the process with the rest of the chicken breast pieces.

Heat a stove top grill pan to medium high. Brush some olive oil on each piece of chicken then some salt and pepper and grill for about 5 minutes per side. When the chicken is almost done, spoon on some pesto and add the cheese and let melt.

To assemble the sandwich, toast the sliced Italian bread. Take the bottom piece of toast add some mayo and then the chicken breast. Next, add some sliced tomato's and arugula. Take the top piece of toast and spread on some mayo and place on the sandwich. Cut in half and serve with fries or simple salad.

Patty Melt

What I like about this patty melt is the sliced sour dough bread rubbed with raw garlic and drizzled with olive oil. I think of this is kind of like an Italian hamburger. Secondly, I'm using organic grass fed ground beef from Fred Meyer. The organic grass fed ground beef is just $1.00 more per pound and it does have really great flavor and perhaps a little better for you too, but either way this burger rocks!

Ingredients:
Grass fed lean ground beef
Sliced Munster cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
Red Onion
Olive oil or Mayo if preferred
1 Garlic clove

Preparation:

Prepare the ground beef into 1/3 pound rectangle patties roughly the same size as your bread. Heat your grill to medium high heat and cook the burgers about 3 minutes per side. In the last minute add the cheese.

Toast the sliced sour dough bread to golden brown. Take the raw garlic and rub on the inside of the bottom and top pieces of bread. Brush some olive oil on the bread where you rubbed the garlic. On the bottom piece of bread, place some lettuce, sliced tomato and sliced red onion. Add the patty and finish by adding the top piece of sour dough bread. Cut in have and serve.     

Sambal Chicken Sandwich

I've made this sandwich a few times now and it's so darn good. Sambal Oelek is a red chili paste that doesn't have any garlic or vinegar, so it's just ground red chili's and it's really hot. Sambal Oelek is primarily used as a cooking additive and not really a condiment like Sriracha sauce. For this chicken sandwich I marinated the chicken breasts in the Sambal Oelek for just 15 minutes before grilling. When done the chicken has a nice mellow chili flavor that's not too hot. What really takes this sandwich over the top is the raw garlic rubbed on the inside of the toasted sliced sourdough French bread.

 

Ingredients:

1 large 1/2 chicken breast per 2 sandwiches

Sambal Oelek

Sliced sourdough French bread

1 - 2 large garlic clove

Romaine lettuce

Soft white cheese like Monterey Jack or Munster

Mayonnaise

 

Preparation:

Take the chicken breast and cut in half so the chicken breast is half a thick. Place the chicken breast on your cutting board, cover with plastic wrap and pound the chicken breast so it's about a 1/2" thick. Repeat the process with the second chicken breast.

 

Place the chicken breasts on a plate and spoon on a nice coating of Sambal Oelek on all sides and let marinate for 10 - 15 minutes.

 

Heat a 12"  sauté pan to medium high. Spay on a little olive oil and place into the sauté pan for about 5 minutes per side. When the chicken is almost done add the cheese and let melt.

 

To assemble the sandwich, toast the sliced sourdough French bread to golden brown. Take the garlic clove and rub on the inside of the bottom piece of toast. Next add some mayo, romaine lettuce and chicken breast. Take the top piece of toast and rub on some garlic and then some mayo and place on the sandwich. Cut in half and serve with fries or simple salad.

Grilled Chicken Panini Sandwich

We received a Panini grill for Christmas and it's awesome. I think I've used it 20 times to make sandwiches for lunch. But, here I used some grilled chicken slices, tomato, spinach and provolone cheese for a wonderful dinner meal served with a simple arugula and balsamic salad.

 

Ingredients:

Udi's non gluten bread, but any bread will suffice
2 slice provolone cheese
Grilled chicken breast slices
Sliced beef steak tomato
Fresh spinach leaves
Spay olive oil

Preparation:
Pre heat the Panini grill while you make the sandwich.

Prepare you sandwich by laying out a slices of bread. Add a slice of cheese, sliced chicken breast, 2 slices of tomato, about 10 spinach leaves and another slice of cheese. Place a piece of bread on top to complete the sandwich.

Spray a thin coat of olive oil  on the outside of the top and bottom of the sandwich. Place the sandwich on the Panini grill and cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

To serve, remove the sandwich from the Panini grill. Cut in half and place on a serving plate with a simple salad.

Barbecue Tri Tip Sandwich

I love a char grilled medium rare Tri Tip now and again, but now I have a second reason, barbecue Tri Tip sandwich. So, I had this huge Tri Tip that I grilled one night and we only ate about half . The next night, I sliced up the rest and cooked in a sauce pan with barbecue sauce. The meat was soft and melt in your mouth, toss it on a soft roll with some coleslaw, awesome. 

Ingredients:
Cooked and sliced Tri Tip roast
Barbecue sauce of choice
Cole slaw; shredded cabbage, mayonnaise, rice wine vinegar
Brioche roll / soft bun of choice

Preparation:

This preparation is for a cooked Tri Tip. For my grilled Tri Tip recipe, click here: Grilled Tri Tip 

Slice the Tri Tip roast into 1/8" thin slices and add to a medium sauce pan. Add 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

 

Make the coleslaw by taking a green cabbage and cutting into quarters. Take your sharp chef's knife and slice one of the cabbage quarters very thin slices and you've got shredded cabbage. Place the cabbage into a mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Mix very well and let set for 10 minutes mixing occasionally and you've got coleslaw. 

 

To serve, place you bun on a plate and add some barbecued Tri Tip, then add some coleslaw and the top of your bun and you're ready to get messy.

BLT on Sliced Sourdough

What can I say, I'm a BLT freak and this is the ultimate for me. A BLT served on sliced toasted sourdough with Best Foods mayonnaise, crunchy bacon, juicy tomato and crisp lettuce, so good!

Ingredients:

Sliced sourdough bread
bacon cooked, 4 pcs per sandwich
Beefsteak tomato, thick sliced
Iceberg lettuce
Best Foods lite mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Toast your sourdough bread golden brown and crispy. Add some mayonnaise to the bottom piece of bread, then some lettuce. Next add the bacon, tomato, salt and pepper. Add some mayonnaise to the top piece of bread and cut the sandwich in half. Serve with a simple Caesar salad.

Grilled Chicken Burger on Ciabatta

I find myself making more sandwiches these days and they're just so good and usually healthy. The ciabatta roll gives this chicken sandwich a more rustic taste and red onion really takes it to the next level. I like to serve with a simple salad for a complete meal.

Ingredients:
Grilled chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic
Romaine lettuce
Red onion
Ciabatta bread roll
Mayo
Stone ground mustard

Preparation:
Take your chicken breast and cut it in half to make it twice as thin. Then take a large piece of wax paper and set the 1 of the pieces chicken on it. Fold the wax paper over the top and pound the chichen breast so it's about 1/2" thick. Repeat the process for the remaining pieces.
 

Crush the garlic and spread some on each piece of chicken. Stack all the pieces together and place in a large zip lock bag to marinate for at least 1 hour.
 

Grill your chicken over high heat which should only take a couple of minutes because the pieces are so thin. While the chicken is grilling, place the rolls into a 350 degree oven until they are warmed and crispy on the outside.
 

To assemble, take your ciabatta roll and slice in half. Spread some mayo on the bottom half followed by lettuce, red onion, chicken and tomato. Spread some stone ground mustard on the top half of the bun and top the sandwich. Serve with a simple salad.

Chicken Burger with Goat Cheese and Green Onion

This is a burger I made using a ground chicken patty as opposed to a grilled chicken breast. I've been using ground chicken for a few different recipes because it's just better than ground turkey. Ground chicken is actually hard to find in the grocery store because stores don't have much on hand or they don't have any at all.

 

I like goat cheese and I thought this combination would go together well, and it does! I'm throwing this out as a signature dish because I can't find any reference to this recipe on Google.

 

Ingredients:
1 pound ground chicken
Goat cheese
green onions
Green leaf lettuce
Potato bun
Mayonnaise
Stone ground mustard

Preparation:

Ground chicken is really soft and kind of difficult to make into a patty. I use a patty maker and the key is to put some water on each side of the patty maker so the chicken patty will release once you form into the patty.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high. Use a little spray canola so the chicken patty doesn't stick to the pan. Cook the chicken patty for about 4 minutes per side, longer if your make thicker patties. When the chicken patty is done, your ready to assemble the burger.

 

Take you fresh potato bun and start by adding some mayo to the bottom piece of bun. Next add the green leaf lettuce and the chicken patty. Goat cheese can be very soft, so what I do is put it into the freezer for 10 minutes and that hardens it up so you can make nice slice of goat cheese.

 

Add a few slices of goat cheese and top with diced green onions. Take the top bun and spread on some stone ground course mustard. Cut the chicken burger in half and serve with a simple salad.

BLT on Wheat Toast

For me, there is something magical about the flavor combination of bacon, lettuce, tomato and Best Foods mayonnaise. This is a fairly easy to prepare sandwich. Serve with baked fries and a side salad you've got a great road house meal.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat bread
Cooked bacon, 4 pieces per sandwich
1 ripe beef steak tomato
Green leaf lettuce
Best Foods light mayonnaise
Ground pepper

Preparation:

Toast the wheat bread and spread some mayonnaise on bottom piece. Next, add the bacon, 2 slices of tomato, a grind of salt and pepper on the tomato and then add a piece of lettuce or two. Take your top piece of toast and spread on some more mayonnaise and you're done.

The Bison Cheese Burger

Bison tastes like ground rib eye beef steak, so good and has very little fat making this the most awesome healthy burger choice going.

When it comes to burgers, I'm pretty simple and straight forward. People just try to make to much out of a burger by adding too many ingredients and making the patty too thick.

Here's the way I build a bison burger. I like a soft potato bun, thousand island dressing on the bottom, lettuce, medium rare patty with cheese, couple thin tomato slices and the top bun with a little more thousand island dressing.
 

Ingredients:
1/3 pound ground bison
Sliced American cheese
Iceberg lettuce
Slice beef steak tomato
Potato bun
Thousand island dressing

Preparation:

Prepare your bison burger by making the patty about 6" round and 1/2" think. By doing this you end up with a patty that is the same size as the bun and not so thick that it becomes difficult to eat. Cook the patty on medium high for about 5 minute per side adding the cheese when almost done.

 

Take the potato bun and add thousand island dressing to the top and bottom bun. Place two pieces of iceberg lettuce on the bottom bun, then the bison patty, the sliced tomato and finally the top half of the bun. Serve with a simple salad of mixed greens, raspberry vinaigrette and blue cheese.

Side dish suggestion:
Oven Baked Steak Fries

The Bacon Cheeseburger

 

The bacon cheese burger, sometimes you just got to go for it!

Ingredients:
1/3 pound Ground beef 93/7 grind per patty
Cheddar cheese
Bacon
Lettuce
Tomato
Red onion
Mayonnaise / thousand island dressing
Stone ground mustard
Sesame seed bun

Preparation:

Make your hamburger patty at least 10 - 15 percent bigger than the bun and about 1/2" thick. By doing this the hamburger ends up the same size as the bun when it's cooked. Grill the burger over a hot grill for about 3 minutes per side. Right at the end put on a slice of cheese on the patty and set on a plate to rest while you prepare the bun.

Here's how I stack it up. Place some mayo or thousand island dressing on the bottom half of the bun and then add the lettuce. Next add the cheeseburger patty, bacon, tomato, red onion and lastly spread some stone ground mustard on the top bun and you're done.



Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich with Pepper Jack Cheese and Roasted Green Chili's

This is one of my all time favorite sandwiches. There are several keys to the sandwich that take it to the next level. First, go with a brioche or potato bun. Secondly, the chicken breast needs to be cut thin otherwise the sandwich gets too big and messy. Lastly, I like Sargento pepper jack cheese because it has jalapinos for the heat, not red pepper flakes. The jalapeño cheese really works with the roasted green chili and red onion in this sandwich.

Ingredients:

Chicken breast

4 cloves crushed garlic

Whole roasted green chili by Ortega

Sargento pepper jack cheese

Red onion sliced thin

Lettuce

Mayo

Potato bun

Preparation:

Slice a chicken breasts in half making it half as thick. This will leave you with two slices of breast about about 3/4" thick. Marinate the chicken breast in the crushed garlic for an hour or so.

You can cook the chicken breast any way you like for this dish, though I like a stove top grill. Cook the chicken breast for about 5 minutes per side and you're done.

Next, take the chicken breast to the cutting board and butterfly each piece and top with a slice of pepper jack cheese, see photo.

To prepare the sandwich, I take my spray canola oil and spray just give a quick spray to the inside of the top and bottom of the potato bun and grill in a sauté pan until toasty brown.

Take the bottom half of the bun and add some mayo, lettuce, two rings of red onion, two pieces of the roasted green chili and the chicken breast topped with melted pepper jack cheese. Take the top half of the bun and and some mayo and complete the sandwich.

To serve, cut the sandwich in half and place so the inside of the sandwich faces the outside of the plate. Add a simple salad to the plate such as mixed greens in raspberry vinaigrette dressing topped with blue cheese.

Side Dish Serving Suggestion:
Oven Baked Steak Fries with Organic Catsup