Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches

This homemade sandwich is an easy reinvention of my favorite sandwich at Breadwinners Cafe, the Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Sandwich. This is a very easy sandwich, perfect for a Friday night dinner at the end of a long week. I usually have most of these ingredients on hand, and if you have leftover chicken that makes the sandwich even easier. Making this sandwich at home also lets me share two of my favorite products with you!

Fischer & Wieser is a fantastic company that specializes in sauces, spreads, jellies, dressings, and salsas. My tiny local grocery store has a very small selection of these products, but it does carry the Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, something I use for lots of different recipes. Check out their website to see all of their products and ideas! 

I love Borden's Shredded Gouda because it melts much more easily, especially on sandwiches, than if I shredded a big chunk of Gouda myself...they must have changed the composition a bit so that it melts at a lower temperature. 

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Ingredients:

non-stick spray

1 loaf of ciabatta or other hearty bread

2 breasts of chicken, thinly sliced

1/2 a cup of shredded Gouda

4 tablespoons of Fischer & Wieser Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Steps:

1. Slice the ciabatta loaf into two 3 inch pieces, and then cut in the middle to expose the soft interior of the bread.

2. Thinly slice the re-heated chicken breasts and then set aside.

3. Place one piece of bread of each 3 inch piece in a skillet heavily coated with non-stick spray. Heat the skillet to medium heat. 

4. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Gouda on each piece of bread in the skillet. 

5. Let the Gouda begin to melt, and then place the sliced chicken on top of the cheese.

6. Carefully drizzle 2 tablespoons of the Chipotle sauce over each sandwich half. 

7. Add the other piece of bread to your sandwiches and press down. Cook for another minute. 

8. Carefully flip each sandwich and press down again. You want both sides to be pressed and crispy, but not burned. Cook on this other side for about 3 minutes. 

9. Pull off the skillet and enjoy with sweet potato fries! 

Cort playing the piano with me.

Cort and Shafer cuddled up with me at the piano!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

When I made the dough for the Fig and Prosciutto Pizza last week, I had enough dough for 3 pizzas. So, I decided to put one ball of dough in the freezer for later pizza making adventures, and use the last pizza ball to make my version of BBQ Chicken Pizza.

I am a relatively new convert to BBQ Chicken pizzas. I've seen them listed at multiple pizza taverns, and even tried a few finding many of them too overtly sweet for my tastes. It wasn't until I tried the version offered at Vapiano Dallas that I decided it was a tasty option on their pizza menu.

My take includes shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken, balsamic red onions, gouda cheese, spicy barbeque sauce and diced tomatoes. This pizza will be a regular in our house. Robert and I both enjoyed the sweetness of the onions with the spiciness of the sauce and the creamy gouda cheese.

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BBQ Chicken Pizza


Ingredients
1 ball of pre-made pizza dough
1 1/2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
3/4 small round of young gouda cheese
1 red onion cut into slices
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Barbeque sauce (preferably not too sweet)
1/2 cup diced tomatoes

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
In a skillet, melt the butter and balsamic vinegar over medium heat.

Add the sliced red onions.

Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until onions are soft and caramelized.

Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Brush with the barbeque sauce.

Add the shredded gouda cheese. (sorry for the blurry picture, I think I was hungry)

Add the shredded chicken.

Top with the onions and tomatoes.

Place on the bottom rack and bake for 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese bubbly.

Slice and serve with your favorite wine or beer and great conversation.

Prosciutto and Gouda Soufflés

I was inspired to try something new when Bunker came home late last Thursday night from the airport after a long week of work. He is a consultant and travels most weeks, all week, and works incredibly hard. He called when he landed at DFW and sounded just exhausted. He said he was rather hungry and craving something comforting but light. Poor Bunker! I just wanted him to come home and relax and not have to think about anything for a bit! I actually did not expect him to want dinner as he did not land until 9 pm, so I had not been grocery shopping and our fridge was embarrassingly bare.

I hung up the phone and the clock started ticking! I had about 40 minutes to whip up something tasty and fresh (it takes 40 minutes to get home from the airport). I was not sure what to make...I did not have a ton of things in the fridge...but I had a ton of eggs, milk that was about to go bad, and Prosciutto and Gouda left over from appetizers last weekend. So I decided to try my hand at soufflés! I decided that if it failed, I could use the rest of the eggs to make an omelet. I am delighted to report that I was actually successful with the soufflés, and Bunker loved the fresh and rather impromptu dinner at home.

This is the gazebo at one of our neighborhood parks. I thought it looked just beautiful with all of the flags up for September 11th...a day that I know we will never forget. 

This recipe is from Food and Wine, but I changed a few things due to my bare fridge. It is an easy recipe to follow, and the results were really phenomenal! But true form, the soufflés fell rather quickly, so bake them right before you want to serve them so they a presented in all their puffy glory!

PS: As I write this post...it is 105 degrees outside. Broke the record...70 days over 100 this summer.

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Ingredients:
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
8 slices of prosciutto, cut into smaller pieces
6 large eggs, separated
5 ounces of shredded Gouda
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar


Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and gather your ingredients.

2. Spray four to six ramekins with a non-stick spray and coat with half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

3. In a saucepan, melt the four tablespoons of butter.

4. Add all of the flour to the butter, whisk and cook over moderate heat for about 1 minute. 

5. Whisk the milk into the butter and flour mixture over moderate-low heat for about 2 minutes, until smooth and thick.

6. Add the salt and cayenne to the mixture.

7. Remove the saucepan from the heat and in the egg yolks, stirring quickly to combine.

8. Stir in the Gouda and prosciutto. Set aside.

9. In your electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until you get firm white peaks. To ensure firm peaks, make sure that you get as much of the egg yolk separated as possible and make sure that your equipment is dry and clean.

10. Carefully fold the egg whites into the soufflé base until the mixtures are fully combined.

11. Spoon the mixture into each ramekin to about 1/2 an inch below the rim.

12. Sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano onto the tops of the soufflés. Place the ramekins on a baking dish to make it easier to remove the finished soufflés from the oven.

13. Enjoy hot out of the oven!