Lunch Week 40: Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches

So every Sunday, I head over to the kitchen to whip up a big batch of food for lunch next week. Yes, I brown bag. And I almost always do it, unless I become too busy to even buy cold cuts from the deli. I do it for several reasons being health, finance, and laziness. Now, you may think that spending hours on a day off to prep and cook five meals at once is hardly lazy. But let me remind you, I hate it when the time comes to decide what to eat for lunch every day. I work in Midtown so the choices are endless. My problem, the more choices, the harder it is for me. So it's much easier for me to have my lunch ready and already decided.

So my lunch for the week: Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches

Recently, I had a nice Italian dinner at Rubirosa (post to come at a later date). CT ordered the veal milanese and I was very impressed. That inspired me to make something similar for lunch. Instead of a pounded thin veal cutlet that's breaded and fried with arugula salad on top, I used chicken breast and stuffed the whole thing between bread.

I started by creating a breading station for my abnormally large chicken breasts.

I normally do not opt for the breast meat. I find it overly large, tasteless, and easy to overcook. However, at the price of buy one get one free, I bought it.

First, I patted the chicken dry and seasoned it salt and pepper. Then into the milk, then flour, then beaten eggs, and lastly the bread crumbs which I added a healthy grating of parmesiano cheese. I repeated these steps with all the breast meat.

Then I heated up some canola oil in my cast iron pan and fried the chicken until browned. Lastly, I put them in the oven to finish cooking. I covered the pan with foil to prevent more browning or burning.

Once the chicken is cooked (about 30-45 minutes), I took them out to cool off. I removed the foil at this point to allow the crust to retain its crispiness.

And then the sandwich assembly. I used long Italian rolls but a round kaiser roll would work as well. One side had mayo, the other German mustard. Then I sliced up the chicken (because the pieces were so large) and laid them on the mayo side. Then a nice handful of peppery arugula (which was buy one get one free as well), then thinly sliced red onion, and finally tomatoes.

The sandwich was pretty large and I needed to tuck and roll the vegetables in order to close the bread properly. But a tight wrap from the saran/plastic kept everything in place.

This sandwich can be eaten cold, hot, or even room temperature. I prefer the last method so that the vegetables won't be wilted and the bread stays soft.

I really enjoyed this sandwich. The chicken is moist but was getting drier as the week went by. The mayo really added a nice touch of creaminess that it needed. And yes, I eat mayo now. Just a delicate schmear is all I need. No mayo laden salads, please. Anyway, the peppery arugula complemented the meat really well. The spice from the red onion was nice and the sweetness of the tomatoes were enjoyable as well. Lastly, the German mustard was fantastic as well. Another later of flavor on top of the chicken, the cheese, and all the vegetables. I would totally make this again. However, maybe next time I'll pound the chicken down to a very thin piece.