Chicken Cordon Bleu Grilled Sandwich

It's been a light cooking week.  Things have been busy and we were out of town with more travel on the horizon which has meant a rather empty fridge.  Usually when we're busy or just get home from a trip, one of our "go-to's" is a rotisserie chicken.  It's a great convenience food.  I don't think it's going to be long before my hungry boys will be able to polish off one of those in one sitting, but for now, we usually have at least a small bit leftover.  This sandwich ended up being a great use for the leftovers.  Crispy outside, creamy melted Swiss on the inside paired with tangy homemade honey mustard and salty ham and chicken, it was a great quick lunch.  I have quite a few uses for leftover rotisserie chicken, but this one will definitely be remembered. 
   
Chicken Cordon Bleu Grilled Sandwich 
Per Sandwich:
1 English muffin (or bread, hard roll or croissant)
about 2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) shredded cooked rotisserie chicken
2 slices deli ham
1 slice (about 1 ounce) Swiss cheese
1 tablespoon brown or Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons butter

In a small bowl, stir together mustard and honey.  Spread on inside of English muffin.  Layer chicken, ham and cheese.  Squish both sides of sandwich together.  Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Cook sandwich in skillet, pressing down with a spatula until browned on each side and cheese is melted (about 2-3 minutes on each side).

Turkey Brie Panini

Alright, we probably ought to get something straight here.  Apparently, according to Wikipedia (which is ALWAYS right) Americans have a tendency to think that a panini refers only to a grilled sandwich.  Feeling a responsibility to not contribute to misconceptions I feel it's best to go on record that in Italy, a panini can refer to any form of sandwich (and if you want to get really technical, you'd really call one sandwich a "panino").  As for this sandwich, however, it falls right into the grilled panini stereotype.  But that is alright.  In fact, in my book, gooey melted brie layered with roasted deli turkey, crisp apple slices, tangy honey mustard and fresh spinach all grilled up in toasty French is a very good thing indeed!  In honor of my parents enjoying their time in France right now, I whipped up a French-inspired lunch.  Bon Appetit!

Turkey Brie Panini

For each sandwich (panino : ):
1 4-6 inch section of baguette, split (or two slices rustic-style bread)
1/2 teaspoon grainy mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2-1 oz brie cheese, thinly sliced
thinly sliced apple (I used Braeburn)
fresh spinach leaves
softened butter

Stir together mustard and honey.  Spread on inside of bread.  Layer turkey, apple slices, spinach leaves and brie.  Smoosh the sandwich together.  Spread a thin layer of butter on the outside of the sandwich.  Grill in a panini press until golden brown.

note: If I was at home and did not have my parents' fancy Griddler Gourmet at my disposal, I would've probably just grilled my sandwich in a skillet, flipping to brown on both sides.  Or, I may have dusted off the good ol' George Foreman grill (when he was "Knocking out the fat" was he thinking of making grilled cheese?). Or, if I was feeling really wild, I might've used the skillet,  loosely covered the sandwich with a layer of aluminum foil and then topped the sandwich with another skillet weighed down with some heavy cans to weigh it down and flatten the sandwich, flipping halfway through to brown both sides.  Panini press?  Who needs a stinkin' panini press?

Roasted Vegetable Sandwich

This has been a week of goat cheese. Tangy, creamy, so delicious. It seems to be appropriate in many uses. I especially love it spread on sandwiches (try it on a BLT!!!). The vegetables in the base of this sandwich are startlingly similar to the Grilled Balsamic Vegetables I featured in the Barbecued Corned Beef post, and you are most welcome to substitute those (I highly recommend using leftover grilled veggies as a sandwich filling--they're especially good in a pita!). In fact, these started on the grill, but the high winds we are prone to experiencing out here on the edge of the Eastern Plains of Colorado kept blowing out the flame on my grill (blast!). Well, cooking definitely invites improvisation and so I finished the vegetables in the oven. Feel free to use whichever cooking method is more convenient.

Roasted Vegetable Sandwich
1 baguette, split lengthwise and cut into 4-6 sandwich-sized lengths
1 eggplant, cut into thin slices
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
salt
1 small yellow squash, sliced lengthwise
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into large chunks
olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup prepared balsamic vinaigrette

2 tablespoons prepared pesto
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
about 4 oz. goat cheese
2 cups cut up lettuce (I used Italian blend with Romaine and Radicchio, and it was yummy!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut the eggplant first and spread it out in a single layer on paper towels. Generously salt the slices of eggplant and allow to rest while you are preparing the rest of the vegetables. This will draw out some of the extra moisture. Once the rest of the vegetables have been prepared, gently blot the eggplant to remove the extra water, give them a quick rinse to remove the excess salt, and pat with paper towel to dry. Arrange vegetables in a single layer on a baking sheet (you may have to use two or stagger roasting the vegetables). Drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a 450 degree oven, flipping once, until vegetables are tender and browned (about 15-20 minutes). Remove from heat and toss with balsamic vinaigrette.

In a small dish, mix together mayonnaise and pesto. Spread about 1 tablespoon of pesto mayonnaise on baguette lengths. Also spread a generous amount of goat cheese on each piece of bread. Arrange vegetables on each sandwich and top with some lettuce. Fold over and squish down so that you can actually fit all that goodness into your mouth. Simple, simple.

It would also be great to add some grilled sliced chicken, if you're getting tired of the vegetarian theme. I am finding we just don't eat that much meat in the summertime...I guess we'll say we are doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint, but really I think it's more that I've been too lazy.

Steak Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

Oh...it's been a long time. This past week, I got to go back to Minnesota to visit my family and we were super busy, so there didn't end up being much time to post. Hopefully, we're back in the swing of things, now!

The day after I got back from MN, our very dear friends, Jeremy, Julia and their adorable daughter Zoe stayed the night with us on their way to a conference. We were so thrilled to be able to visit with them! Among so many things that we enjoy about these friends, one is that we both get really excited about great bargains. Jeremy said he makes a point to never pay more than $2 a pound for meat, which is a principle I try to adhere to as well! Stock up when it's on sale.

Anyway, after our friends a somewhat underwhelming breakfast (I made a dutch baby pancake and doubled all the ingredients except forgetting to double the milk...it didn't puff up very well and was kind of a brick. Oops), I tried to make up with lunch. Here's what we had:



Steak Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions
makes about 8 sandwiches

2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter

2 pounds steak, trimmed of any visible fat or icky bits and thinly sliced against the grain into bite-sized pieces (I used very thinly sliced sirloin for $1.98/pound)
2 tablespoons butter, divided
Canadian steak seasoning, to taste
kosher salt, to taste

2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup chicken or beef broth

8 buns, split open (bolillo or torpedo shaped rolls work great)
8 slices cheese (used Munster)

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and spread into a single layer. Reduce heat to low and allow onions to cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. For really great caramelized onions, you need to be patient (allow about 30 minutes). While they are cooking is a great time to be trimming and slicing your steak. Otherwise, you can also do the onions ahead of time and keep them in the fridge to reheat when you need them since the rest of this goes together really fast!

After steak is cut into bite-sized pieces, season with steak seasoning and kosher salt.

In a small bowl, combine ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and broth, stirring until smooth.

After onions are caramelized, remove from heat and set aside. In the same skillet, raise heat to high and melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add half of seasoned steak pieces in a single layer and sear for 1-2 minutes on each side, flipping once. You don't want to stir the steak around too much because continuous contact with the pan is what will give you the golden brown sear on the meat. Once steak pieces are browned on both sides, remove from heat and set aside. Melt remaining butter and repeat process with remaining steak. After the second batch of steak is cooked, remove from heat and add to the first batch.

Dump sauce mixture into the skillet and stir constantly over high heat for about a minute or until thickened and bubbly. Pour over steak bites.

*whiles you're cooking the steak, you can also toast the buns slightly by putting them on a baking sheet and covering loosely with a piece of foil and warming them in a 350 degree oven while you're cooking the steak. In fact, you can put your onions and the cooked steak in the oven to keep warm along with your rolls while the sauce is being made too!

To assemble:
Spread a scoop (about 1/4-1/2 cup) of steak mixture making sure to get some of the sauce from the bottom over an open roll. Top with 1-2 tablespoons of caramelized onions and a slice of cheese. If you want to be really decadent, you can also add a slice of crispy bacon, too (what can I say, they had a special on pre-cooked bacon and we figured everything's better with bacon, right?).