These sandwiches made for such an easy dinner. Grilled cheese is always delicious, but the addition of tart apple slices and yummy bacon make it extra tasty. I usually add sliced tomato to grilled cheese sandwiches, but I might make these apple & bacon grilled cheeses my new go-to sandwich.
I used white cheddar cheese, granny smith apple, thick sliced bacon and sourdough bread spread with dijon mustard for the sandwiches. You could make these in a skillet, or in a panini press (which is what I chose to use). Serve along side a bowl of tomato soup or a green salad.
Grilled Cheese with Apple & Bacon
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 slices of sourdough bread
Dijon mustard
8-10 slices good cheddar cheese
4-6 slices cooked bacon
8-10 slices tart green apple
butter
Directions
Spread bread with Dijon mustard, then layer cheese, bacon, apple and cheese. Top with second slice of bread.
Butter outside of the bread and grill on hot skillet or panini press.
My mother-in-law made this sandwich over Christmas when we went home to visit. Thanks, Kate! The recipe is an Ina Garten one, so it has no choice but to produce something delicious. I made a few changes to the recipe last weekend when we had company. Here is the original recipe.
I made 2 of these sandwiches for 3 couples, and we had some leftovers. If you’re serving 6 ladies, one sandwich would be enough. If you’re serving 6 gentlemen, I’d go ahead and make two of them. I doubled the dressing, which is lovely, light and tangy, and I had just enough. I baked 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and fried up about a dozen pieces of bacon. I used spring mix instead of the arugula, and a jar of julienned sun dried tomatoes of which I used about half.
To make putting this together a breeze, cook and slice the chicken a day ahead. You can also make the dressing a day ahead and keep it in the fridge. I would fry the bacon right before you assemble the sandwich so that it stays nice and crispy. We didn’t take this on a picnic, but I think it would be a nice, fancy picnic sandwich. Enjoy!
Chicken Caesar Club Sandwich
Courtesy of Ina Garten
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 slices bacon, cooked
1 large garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 large ciabatta bread
4-6 ounces spring mix
12 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil
2 to 3 ounces Parmesan, shaved
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan skin side up. Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. Cool slightly, and slice the meat thickly. Set aside.
Place the garlic and parsley in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until minced. Add the mustard, lemon juice, and mayonnaise and process again to make a smooth dressing. (Refrigerate the Caesar dressing if not using it immediately.)
Slice the ciabatta in half horizontally and separate the top from the bottom. Toast the bread in the oven, cut side up, for 5 to 7 minutes; cool slightly. Spread the cut sides of each piece with the Caesar dressing. Place half the spring mix on the bottom piece of bread and then layer in order: the sun-dried tomatoes, shaved Parmesan, crispy pancetta, and sliced chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and finish with another layer of spring mix. Place the top slice of ciabatta on top and cut in thirds crosswise. Serve at room temperature.
There are a few pizza doughs that I’ve tried that are delicious, but require an overnight rise in the refrigerator. Since I decided to make pizza for dinner the morning of, I wouldn’t have the luxury of letting the dough rise for 12 hours. So, I went in search of a quick rise pizza crust and found this recipe for a California Pizza Kitchen type crust. I made the basic dough, but I’ll have to try the honey wheat when I can remember to buy whole wheat four.
One of my favorite restaurants in Amarillo is Fire Slice Pizzeria. It is a little hard to find, tucked behind a shopping center, but your efforts in finding it will be rewarded. The last time Ben and I were there they had some really great live music, which is not something you find very much of in Amarillo. The pizzas here have a great thin crust, and unique and tasty toppings. They do have a wonderfully simple Margherita pizza, but they also have a green chile cheeseburger pizza that Ben really likes. My favorite is The Rudy. The Rudy is a white pizza topped with bacon, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. It is delicious. I love it. I want a slice right now.
I tried to recreate this pizza with my new pizza crust recipe. While it didn’t turn out quite like Fire Slice, the flavors were good and I’d definitely make it again.
The first thing I needed to do was find a white sauce to use. The sauce I found was OK, but pretty thick. I added about an extra 1/2 cup of 2% milk to thin it out. The flavor was good, and I liked it as the base of the pizza. The real Rudy may not have any sauce under the toppings, but I liked it this way.
Now to the toppings! These amounts made enough for 2 pizzas, so double them if you intend to make all your pizzas with these toppings.
Bacon: 6 slices of bacon cooked in a skillet, drained and cooled, then chopped up.
Mushrooms: 8 ounces of mushrooms, roasted with olive oil and garlic cloves for 30 minutes at 375°F.
Spinach: 12 ounces of fresh spinach, sauteed in a little olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
Assembling the Pizzas
Divide your dough into 4 pieces, roll each one out to 10-12 inches in diameter. The dough will be thin. Transfer the dough to a pizza peel (or unrimmed cookie sheet) dusted with corn meal.
Spread some of the white sauce on to the pizza, leaving a thin border which you can brush with olive oil is desired.
Top evenly with spinach, mushrooms and bacon. Sprinkle a little shredded cheese (mozzarella or provolone).
Bake on a preheated pizza stone at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.
This obsession I have with macaroni and cheese may never end. It is just too good. How can you not love it?
My most recent mac and cheese adventure was a BLT version with bacon, leeks, tomatoes, colby jack cheese, and a toasted bread crumb topping. While this did not quite live up to the deliciousness of other macs, it was still very tasty. I liked the subtle flavor of the leeks, juicy tomatoes, salty bacon and creamy cheese.
The inspiration for this dish came while I was perusing recipes and found a BLT pizza that used arugala as the “lettuce” in the BLT. I thought it could be changed a bit to make mac and cheese. I searched BLT mac and cheese and found quite a few recipes, the top result being one from Rachel Ray. It sounds pretty tasty, and I will probably try it sometime and see how it compares to this one. She uses cream cheese in her recipe, and does not make a roux at all. I like making the cheese sauce with the roux, milk and cheese, but maybe she’s on to something with the cream cheese. I’ll let you know once I try it out.
All the recipes I found had a few basics in common. All used bacon and tomatoes, of course, most used leeks, and arugala was the lettuce in most recipes that I found. I could not find arugala at the grocery store, so my leeks became the “L” in this BLT.
Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and place cooked pasta in a large bowl; set aside.
Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet, leaving drippings in the pan, to paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. Chop bacon into ½ inch pieces then place in the large bowl.
Slice leek in half lengthwise, then submerge halves in cold water to rinse out any dirt. Remove from water, pat dry and slice into ½ inch pieces. Saute the leeks in the skillet with bacon drippings over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, just until it softens up and place in the large bowl.
Cut tomatoes into ¼ inch slices.
In a sauce pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Once it’s completely melted, add the flour and whisk to create a roux. Allow to just come to a boil and then slowly stir in the milk, then the garlic. Allow the milk to come to a simmer and thicken, whisking frequently to avoid clumps. Once it thickens up to coat the back of the spoon, turn off the heat. Carefully stir in the cheeses until melted. Add the garlic powder and salt & pepper to taste.
Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and other ingredients in the large bowl and mix well to combine.
Spread half the pasta mixture into a pan, then layer half the tomato slices on top. Cover with the rest of the pasta, then the rest of the tomatoes.
In a small skillet, melt the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Add the bread crumbs and stir until the crumbs are slightly golden brown. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the casserole.
Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and the top has browned slightly. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
This past weekend was one of the best I’ve had in quite a long time. During our time in Waco we met some of our very best friends. There’s something about being in the trenches together that brings people closer than they would have been otherwise, and this is what I have Baylor law school to thank for!
Ben spent most of his law school days with three great guys at Baylor, and as a result I became great friends with them, their significant others, and their kids. After graduation we moved to Amarillo along with one of the other couples, Tim and Jackie. Jason and Carrie and their adorable girls moved to Decatur and Christian moved to Houston. Being scattered throughout the great state of Texas makes getting together a tough endeavor. It’s also hard to find a time that works with everyone’s schedule. So, this weekend was a special one because everyone was able to meet up in the bustling metropolis of Decatur. Christian brought his fiancé, so we were able to meet her, and we definitely approve.
One of the great things about this group is our numerous shared interests. For Carrie H and I one of those is food! We had many incredible dinner parties in Waco, and when we get together now we usually plan a menu for one of our meals. This weekend, Carrie also planned great breakfasts and lunches. She is incredible.
Breakfast is always a bowl of cereal for Ben. Not only that, he uses the same bowl and sits in the same spot to eat it every morning. I love that about him. I usually eat some fruit and yogurt. Sometimes I make banana bread and we’ll eat that for a few days, and if we’re really getting crazy, scrambled eggs. Needless to say, breakfast is not too thrilling around here.
When company comes I tend to get a little excited about breakfast. This breakfast strata is very adaptable to anyone’s personal taste. I used bacon, mushrooms, spinach, and a combination of swiss and cheddar cheese. Ham would be delicious, or spicy breakfast sausage…mmmm. It would even be great with just vegetables.
There are easier overnight breakfast casseroles. I made one once that used a box of croutons instead of fresh bread and I’ve seen recipes that use frozen hash browns. I liked that this one was completely from scratch. It didn’t take too long to put it together on Friday night. The hard part was getting out of bed early to pre-heat the oven and bake it for an hour and a half. But it was worth it.
