On Chicken Sandwich with Vodka Sauce

Welcome back to another edition of Cookin' with Kaz, where we take things that are easy to make and explain them to you like you're a fourth grader. The weekend is here, and chances are you'll want to spend part of this time enjoying a delicious sammich. Instead of toasting up whatever salted meats and cheeses still populate your refrigerator, consider this classier alternative.

What You Need:

Chicken breasts or chicken thighs, depending on preference

Spinach

Vodka sauce

Sandwich thins (or rolls of your choice)

Seasoning for chicken (I like Emeril’s Essence for this one – you can buy it or make it yourself, or just use whatever seasoning(s) you prefer)

Olive oil or vegetable cooking spray

Butter

“I’m Feeling A Little Fancy” Brine:

½ gallon warm water

½ cup kosher salt, or about 1/4-2/3 cup sea salt

¼ cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

Take your chicken of choice and cut them up into appropriately-sized portions for the sandwich rolls you’ve chosen. For the sake of proper cooking and preventing a gigantic mess, the chicken probably should be just about as thick as your hand laying flat.

***If you’re feeling a little fancy, this would be a good time to make the appropriately-named brine above. If you don’t care about the brine, skip down two paragraphs***

Make sure the water is warm at first so it dissolves all the stuff you’re putting into it. I like making the brine in a big ‘ol bowl, but mixing it up in a big Ziploc bag works too if you’re careful/prepare for potential leakage.

Afterwards, toss your chicken in the brine, cover the bowl/zip up the bag, and put it in your fridge for anywhere between three and 12 hours, depending on how much chicken you’ve put in there. (Obviously, if you’re making a ton of chicken, you’ll want to bump up the amount of brine you’re making) Don’t leave the chicken brining for more than a day or so, or your chicken will start to becoming really stiff from the salt and sugar. Remove from the brine once you’re ready to make sammiches and dump the brine.

Once your chicken is cut up and/or done brining, season it how you prefer. If you want to use a hammer or mallet beat your chickens into submission and make sure they’re uniform or whatever, go for it.

Now, it's time to start cooking. I use a George Foreman grill to cook the chicken for about 10-12 mintues, but you can bake it in the oven, sauté it with some veggies and olive oil in a saucepan, or deep fry it in bacon grease if you prefer. The world is your oyster, er, chicken.

While the chicken is cooking, take a few tablespoons of vodka sauce and start it on medium low/low heat in a small saucepan. I would skew low for the exact amount of sauce; you only need about 1-2 tablespoons per sandwich, or it’ll get sloppy in a hurry. Also, don’t be an idiot like me and put the heat up too high on the creamy vodka sauce, or it’ll be all gross and curdled and stuff. If you want to avoid all the touchiness, you can also just use Ragu or some homemade pasta sauce you like – I just like vodka sauce because it adds a certain fanciness to a meal that is essentially a grilled chicken sandwich.

Now, get a saucepan out and heat up a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium-low heat, or spray the pan with cooking spray. Once it’s been heating for a minute or two, take a fistful of spinach per sandwich and throw it on the pan, stirring it up occasionally. If you like putting garlic or onions with your spinach sauté, go for it, but I find there’s usually enough flavor going on in the sandwich already to where adding more with the spinach isn’t necessary.

Lastly, if you want to toast your sammich buns, you can start that now. Once it’s sufficiently warm, butter them up and let it melt into the buns. If you don’t care about toasting it, you can butter the plain bun and just kind of let it sit there for a bit. (This can also work well as a sub/hoagie if you prefer)

The spinach should cook quickly, and the vodka sauce won’t take long to get warm (without burning it!). Once the chicken is done, place it on the sammich, drizzle the vodka sauce over it, and put the spinach on top. Eat it with chips or whatever and class up your weekend sammich.