Monday, January 24, 2011

Italian Chicken Panini with Parmesan Fries

I'm not quite sure how I came up with this idea but it works!

Ingredients
1 loaf of ciabatta bread
2 chicken breasts, sliced into 4 cutlets
8 slices of provolone cheese
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
1/4 cup of Italian dressing
3 tbsp of light mayo
1/2 packet of Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix
2 cups of spring mix, spinach or arugula
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 package of frozen french fries
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Marinate the chicken breasts in dressing for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook chicken in dressing marinade for 35-40 minutes. (Alternatively, you can grill the chicken.) Place fries on a cookie sheet and place on rack below chicken in oven and cook for the same length of time.

While chicken and fries are cooking, mix mayo and dressing mix together. Set aside.

Optional step: If you want to roast your own red pepper, it's very easy. Turn your gas burner on medium high heat and place pepper directly on the burner grate. Cook each side for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. The pepper will hiss and make noise, fear not. Remove the pepper, let it cool and slice.

In the last 5 minutes that the fries are cooking, sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over fries. Once fries and chicken are finished cooking remove from oven. Slice bread lengthwise and then into four sections. Separate the bread, you should have 8 pieces of bread. Spread each slice with mayo. Place chicken cutlets on 4 pieces of bread; top each cutler with 2 slices of Provolone cheese. Top remaining slices of bread with spring mix and peppers. Top each chicken half with a spring mix/pepper half.

Heat a cast iron skillet or flat top grill on medium high heat. Brush with tablespoon of olive oil. Add sandwiches to pan. Press down with a bacon press or a brick wrapped in aluminum foil. Toast sandwich until golden brown; repeat on other side.

Serve each sandwich warm with fries.

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