The Ultimate Restaurant-Style Sandwich

As an American, I think it’s safe to assume that most of us love sandwiches, especially fancy ones that you usually can order in a restaurant.  My mom, the best cook I know, loves sandwiches also (mostly hot ones, of course) because they are easy, fun, and versatile.  This summer she created the ultimate restaurant-style sandwich adapted from tradition Chicken Cordon Bleu recipes, but this sandwich can be easily changed to fit whatever you have on hand.

What makes this sandwich better than your average homemade sandwich is the bread.  For this sandwich,you use a long loaf, about 22 inches, or Ciabatta bread.  This makes the sandwich crunchy yet durable enough to hold everything together against some of the strongest chewers.  To prep the bread, you cut it in half lengthwise and brush the inner sides with olive oil and grill or broil until lightly browned.

For the Chicken Cordon Bleu version you then add chicken breasts which have been pounded to about 1/2 inch thickness, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and then grilled or broiled about seven minutes on each side until they are lightly browned and no longer pink inside.  Then however many slices of your favorite deli ham it takes to coat the chicken is then layered on top of the chicken with your favorite type of cheese.  You stick this back in the broiler or grill just until the cheese melts.  Then you add the chicken breasts with the ham and melted cheese to the bottom slice of Ciabbata bread and cover it with the top slice.

To serve, cut the long sandwich into equal pieces, usually about six will do it.  Serve with additional toppings such as lettuce, green/red/yellow peppers, red onion, tomato, ranch dressing, etc.  Pass these around for people to add to their sandwiches and dig in.

There are many variations to this as well.  You could put a cheap cut of beef in the crock pot and let it slow cook all day until it becomes tender and can be pulled apart easily and add that to your bread as a variation on the Philly Beef sandwiches.  You could use leftover turkey after Thanksgiving.  It really makes no difference because the bread is what steals the show with every bite, but I would recommend trying the Chicken Cordon Bleu variation before trying others because it is delicious.  You could also substitute the ham with bacon if you would like (which is shown in the photo above.

You really can’t go wrong with this sandwich, so any night that you are craving something hearty and somewhat fancy without adding too much work to your daily cooking routine, try turning to one of these ultimate restaurant-style sandwiches.  You won’t be sorry!

This post is a part of Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.