After a sweltering week, we experienced a cool and very wet day recently. What to eat? It called for something warm and filling and yet we didn’t have time to make soup or simmer a stew. Plus we wanted to change up our lunches a bit and thought it would a bit of a thrill to turn on a burner before the next wave of heat and humidity. Luckily, we had quite a bit of leftover cooked chicken.
This reminded me of a recipe from back in the day with
chicken and creamy filling in a sandwich that was then French-toasted. Of course, the recipe was long gone, but we
had fun improvising in an attempt to duplicate it.
As usual with our recipes, everything is approximate. We
assume you’ll vary the ingredients to suit your tastes.
We tried this both ways: French toasted and also just lightly sautéed without dipping in egg. We loved it both ways, but our dense bread didn't absorb the egg mixture as well as a lighter (perhaps even white!) bread. We'll give that a shot some other cool summer day.
We tried this both ways: French toasted and also just lightly sautéed without dipping in egg. We loved it both ways, but our dense bread didn't absorb the egg mixture as well as a lighter (perhaps even white!) bread. We'll give that a shot some other cool summer day.
All you need is:
4 slices of your favorite bread (We used six-grain Chia
bread, but any nice bread will do - we think walnut or cranberry or both would be terrific).
4 – 6 ounces of cooked chicken, cubed
3 tablespoons of good quality mayo - we used reduced fat
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 ounces of soft cheese, grated – we used Havarti
2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped chives, divided
S & P to taste
1 extra large egg
2 tablespoons milk
All you do is:
Mix the chicken, mayo, Dijon, grated cheese, lemon, 1 teaspoon chives and S & P and spread on the bread. You could butter the bread first. We didn’t but might next time. Cover with second slices.
You could make it ahead to this point.
Beat the egg and milk in a flat bowl.
Dip the sandwiches in and let the mixture soak in for a few minutes. Turn to dip the other side.
Heat a sauté or frying pan and melt butter and 1 tsp chives
until bubbly. Cook the sandwiches over
medium heat until brown. Flip and cook
until other side is browned too and the cheese inside has melted (a bit of a
guessing game). We're not sure who ate those photos, but it's pretty straightforward.
We tried this a second time without the egg. (There was a small mountain of cooked chicken in the fridge). Perhaps the denseness of the bread didn’t let the egg do its magic. We liked second version just as much, so that will be the recipe we keep. It’s like a melt but with a crispy outside. Next time we’ll add a bit of lemon zest and maybe a few dried cranberries, if we’re not keeping them for the salad.
We served it with a crisp green leaf lettuce salad and a
carrot salad (that’s where the cranberries were). The carrot salad may be messy, but it's yummy., Next time we'll use an ice cream scoop.
Both versions were big hits and I hope one or the other will be at your house too.
Both versions were big hits and I hope one or the other will be at your house too.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
That
shadowy body known as Victoria Abbott is actually artist and
photographer Victoria Maffini and her mother Mary Jane. Together they
write the book collector mysteries. They are very happy to announce
that THE MARSH MADNESS, the fourth in the series, is now available for pre-order by clicking the links below or through your favorite source of books!
If you haven't started this series yet, we're having a draw for a REVIEW COPY of THE CHRISTIE CURSE, first in the series.
Just leave a comment below and your name goes in the hat. Be lucky!
If you haven't started this series yet, we're having a draw for a REVIEW COPY of THE CHRISTIE CURSE, first in the series.
Just leave a comment below and your name goes in the hat. Be lucky!
Or Pre-order Kindle
They'd love it if you would friend them on Facebook where there's a lot going on.
