By Teri Cayton
The Parsons Advocate
It seems I must apologize for last week’s recipe. Due to a clerical error somewhere along the line, the ingredients were correct for the Grilled Chicken Sandwich but the directions were for the Pineapple Upside Down Cake from weeks before. I will republish the recipe so if you are interested in making a grilled chicken sandwich you can give it a go. Momma Said, “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth.”
I am thankful for the good weather we are having right now but I feel sorry for those getting dumped on by this last storm. If that groundhog predicted an early spring I would have his butt in the stewpot. I guess this was the last year that French Creek Freddie will be doing his predictions because the state closed down the game park where he was housed.
We used to go there when I was a little kid and I remember how big the buffalo were. We would go on a Sunday and have a picnic and just run around like crazy. Of course back then you didn’t have to worry about your children being abducted and we had the run of the place. Momma Said, “I’m sure sometimes mom would have wished someone would take us off her hands for a couple hours.” I think that is why we went to the park because she could relax for a little while.
We weren’t bad kids we were just full of energy and when it was pretty outside there wasn’t any stopping us. We were full tilt from sunup till sundown, on the go all the time. It was fun to be outside and besides we didn’t have anything else to do but play outside. That is of course after the chores were all done.
GRILLED CHICKEN SANDWICH
Ingredients
Marinade
- ▢¼ cup lemon juice
- ▢1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ▢1 clove garlic minced
- ▢½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ▢½ teaspoon dried basil
- ▢½ teaspoon salt
- ▢¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ▢½ cup olive oil
Sun dried Tomato Aioli
- ▢¼ cup sun dried tomatoes
- ▢1 small clove garlic
- ▢1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ▢½ cup mayonnaise
- ▢3-4 large fresh basil leaves
Sandwiches
-
- ▢4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ▢Salt and pepper to taste
- ▢1 tablespoon olive oil
- ▢1 red onion sliced into ¼ inch rings
- ▢2 cups baby arugula
- ▢4 ciabatta rolls sliced in half
- Instructions
- In a large bowl or baking dish, combine the marinade ingredients.
- Using a meat mallet, pound chicken breasts to an even ½ inch thickness.
- Add the chicken to the dish with the marinade and turn to coat. Marinate 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- While the chicken is marinating, make the sun dried tomato aioli. Place all aioli ingredients in a food processor (or use an immersion blender), and process until combined and smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
- Heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Cook the chicken 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through. Set aside, covered, to rest.
- While the chicken is resting, drizzle the onion slices with a little olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add onions to the grill or pan in a single layer and cook about 4-5 minutes until soft and charred, turning once. If you are cooking on an outdoor grill and worried about the onions falling through the grates, slice them thicker (about ¾ inch) and they will stay together better, however they will need a couple of extra minutes to cook.
- Optionally, place the ciabatta rolls, sliced side down on the grill for a couple of minutes until lightly charred and heated.
- To assemble the sandwiches, spread some sun dried tomato aioli to taste on each half of the ciabatta rolls, place a piece of chicken on the bottom half. Top with onions and arugula, and add the top half of the bun on top.