Chicken Parm Salad Sandwich

Over Labor Day, I had a weekend get-a-way to Arizona where I was joined by 6 other friends. It was our girls’ weekend. We decided to pair up and cook some meals so that we wouldn’t be eating out the entire weekend. I paired up with Michelle and we had lunch so we decided to make a Rachael Ray chicken salad. We doubled the recipe..

Here’s the recipe from RR’s website:
http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2803

This was my first experience with rotisserie chicken, and I was quite pleased. Michelle and I had 2 chickens to work with, but it wasn’t too bad. She worked on getting the skin and bones off and then I shredded up the chicken. We decided to omit the mint in the recipe and used dried parsley instead of fresh. But since basil is my new favorite flavor, we got some fresh basil like the recipe called for.

After we had all the chicken shredded up, we worked on the dressing. Using the food processor we used chicken stock, garlic, basil and fresh parmesan cheese. Then we streamed in the EVOO while processing. At first it didn’t look like there would be enough to coat all the chicken, but there definitely was.

Next we sliced up the onions and tomatoes. Since we were doubling the recipe, we had 8 plum tomatoes ready, but we only ended up using about 5 of them. It just seemed like plenty. Remember to get the seeds out of the tomatoes. The seeds can make things too runny/watery. The onion that we had was large, so I only used about half of it.

We got good reviews all around and we had some leftovers. Be warned though the basil and garlic from the leftovers are pungent. The next day when we opened the refrigerator we would be over taken by the smell. I recommend keeping the leftovers in a sealed container (we just had them covered with saran wrap).

This past weekend I made this recipe again so that Brian and I can have another option for lunch this week. It’s a really easy recipe, and I plan on making it regularly on Sundays so we can eat it throughout the week. Another tip is to get the rotisserie chicken the day before using it. Since it’s cold, it’s much easier to work with.

Take 2 - Panko Crusted Chicken with Tomato Basil Sauce

The other night I re-made my panko crusted chicken dinner.  I was successful at not burning the breading.  It was really good.  The panko crumbs have a distinct flavor.  This is what I did differently:
1. I pounded out the chicken a little just to even the pieces out
2. I did not pre-heat the skillet and oil.
3. I used medium (or maybe just less than medium) heat. (I turned down the heat after the 2nd side was on for awhile to probably med-low).
4. I covered the skillet.

One side did get a little toastier than perfection, but not burnt by any means.  I also had to add more oil in the middle of cooking (originally I just added enough to barely coat the skillet).  The chicken probably needed about 10-12 minutes per side before it was cooked through.

No picture for this one because it essentially looked like it did last time, except the bread was more a brown color and not black (success!).  Usually the second or third time I make a meal is when I decide how much I like it.  I rate on ease of cooking, time required, mess made and taste.  This one is high on my list.  It's fairly easy...neither the chicken or sauce needs much attention once it gets going.  It is kinda messy since we have to coat the raw chicken.  It was fairly quick to make - this time around probably took me about 25 minutes, and it was delicious.  I'm sure I'll be making this recipe on a regular basis!

My next post will be a chicken parm salad that I made with the help of a friend when I was in Arizona for a Girls' Weekend.  Stay Tuned!