This recipe gets us dipping our toe into the idea of prepping in the commercial restaurant. A well designed menu can have 15 items that work off a core product group of two or three meats and some fixings. Breast of chicken is a great example.
By most health codes you have around seven days to use a fresh meat product, but you still monitor your products. After a couple days waiting to be used in a meal, it often makes sense to shift it to a prepped item, by cooking it you have gained another seven days of wholesomeness. From soup to chicken salad, there are many ways to utilize chicken breasts. We’re going to use a flame grill to set up the kitchen.
Basics
Boneless skinless chicken breasts come with a surprising variety of looks and packaging. You may meet a persnickety cook who will explain to you that “a breast” actually means both sides of the breast meat from a chicken…they’re not wrong, however we’ll be referring to the meat removed from one side of the breast and we’ll live on the edge referring to it as a breast. If you buy them intact at the store, one end will stand up a full inch while the other tapers down to a point. This is a little harder to cook evenly. Your best bet is to slice it in two.
For a right hander, place the breast high end to the right and hold it in place with your left. Take your time at first, center the knife as best you can and slice across the meat, between your hand and the board with the goal of getting two similarly sized slices of meat. Many frozen products will come already split like this.
Prepration
We use a lot of spray oil in the industry, and now you have fun choices. When shopping, always make sure oil is the first ingredient, which you assume, but sometimes they’ll cheat. If you’re feeling fancy, spray duck fat is amazing, regardless, use the spray of your choice. Spray your split breasts on both sides with a light coat of oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper. Cook on a preheated grill until done, typically 3-5 minutes per side, then refrigerate covered until cold. Now you have mild smoky chicken to cube for salads or pasta, or slice for sandwiches.
Our other prep item for this dish is pesto mayonnaise. Simply 3 parts mayonnaise to 1 part pesto. Pesto is readily available in the store and contains basil, garlic and pine nuts with olive oil. This is a good schmear for all kinds of things.
Chilled Grilled Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Chilled Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
- 4 Chilled grilled chicken breasts
- 4 Kaiser rolls or roll of your choice
- 1 Large cucumber
Instructions
- Slice into five or six slices each;4 chilled grilled chicken breasts
- On the bagel setting, toast the cut surface;4 Kaiser rolls, or roll of your choice
- Thinly slice into 28-32 medallions;1 large cucumber
- For each sandwich, schmear the top and bottom of a roll with pesto mayonnaise. Fan 6 or 7 cucumber slices on the bottom, keeping the prettiest slice for the finish. Place the slices of one chicken breast with the last cucumber slice on top. Serve open face with your favorites of lettuce, tomato or onion on the top half of the roll, and serve.
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