Upscale Chicken Sandwiches

Pre-kid we used to frequent a joint in NYC called Island Burger which has dozens of burgers and chicken sandwiches to choose from.  Post-kid we make our favorites at home.   My favorite is the chicken and Boursin sandwich with caramelized onions and crisp lettuce.  Who knows if it’s still on the menu there as I haven’t been in years.

Grilled Chicken and Boursin Sandwich

First slice up your onions and add them to olive oil in a hot pan on medium heat and caramelize.  I find that adding a bit of honey once they begin to turn color helps them along.

To build your sandwich, start with a toasted bun slathered with Boursin cheese, crispy bacon, a grilled chicken breast, caramelized onions and lettuce.  Sometimes the night calls for Boursin cheese slathered on both sides of the bun which was the case here.

It’s pretty darn tasty and a very good excuse to buy the sweet Vidalia onions that are in stores now.

Cobb Salad

Spring is coming, so we thought.  All we have here in the Northeast are rain showers on the warm days and chilly winds on the sunny days.  I am no longer able to eat the yams in my cold storage – I must eat greens.  I finally went to the grocery store and for the first time in a very long time I bought lettuce.  I tried to eat a seasonal and local diet, but if you live in the Northeast like I do then at some stage you have to give up and just throw the green potatoes away.

Cobb Salad

Nothing in this salad was local, not the bacon, bleu cheese, avocado, chicken, lettuce, nor the cranberries.  It was very delicious and gave us hope that spring is on the way and soon little lettuce and arugula shoots will sprout and fill our CSA box once again.  In the meantime I have to buy my lettuce for $3.49 a head at our local rip-off Met Foods.

To make a Cobb, just arrange all the items I mentioned above over lettuce dressed with a simple vinaigrette.  It will make you feel like you are dining at a country club on a bright sunny day.

Faux Cassoulet

Storkbite’s Papa has been asking for a cassoulet for weeks.  The weather is getting warmer and my time to make such a hearty dish was coming to an end.  I really don’t have the time or patience to follow a Julia Child recipe at the moment so I decided to just wing it.  It turned out both hearty and satisfying.  After standing around at the park all afternoon chasing Storkbite, the faux cassoulet was the shot in the arm I needed.

Faux Cassoulet

First off — soak your beans up to two days in advance. Find the biggest white beans you can find and soak a whole pound.   This recipe really requires the right pot.  I have a large shallow cast iron Le Creuset pan with lid that is really the best tool for the job.  It allows the beans to be evenly distributed in the cooking liquid.  If you are trying this with a deep cast iron Dutch oven you may want to increase the amount of cooking liquid to almost cover the beans.

Ingredients:

• 4 duck legs
• 1 lb. soaked large white beans
• 1/4 chopped bacon
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 12 pearl / boiling onions
• 2 tbs. tomato paste
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 tsp. beef “Better than Bouillion”
• 2 c. hot water
• olive oil

On high heat drizzle pan with oil, brown the duck legs that have been salted.  Add bacon and brown, add whole peeled onions.  Once the bacon is browned and onions are slightly caramelized, remove duck legs and move everything to the side of the pan.  Add tomato paste and garlic.  Reduce heat and when the tomato paste is melted, add drained  beans.  Combine beans, bacon, onions and tomato paste.  Place duck legs on top. Add two sprigs of rosemary and 2 cups water with beef bouillion mixed in, cover and place in preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour.

If toddler is cranky and you have to clean up the apartment like I did, reduce heat to 325 and let it go for a little longer.  You will want to test the beans for doneness before serving.   The duck should fall off the bone.

The taste of cassoulet in 1 hour prep and 1 hour cook time.  Take that Jules.