Chicken, apple and Gorgonzola sandwich

For whatever reason, chicken breast, sliced apple, and any type of blue cheese makes for an excellent sandwich filling. If you add a chewy rye bread, like jagdschnitten which we frequently use on Soused Blueberries (available at Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Saugus), then you pretty much have the ultimate lunch to bring to work the next day. And super easy to boot.

For your sandwich

Since I'm a nice spouse... and equally prone to a hatred of wasting food, I decided on splitting a chicken breast in half as an entire breast would be all too much filling, and excellent sandwiches are all about proportion. So, if you're keeping score, for two sandwiches, you'll need one chicken breast, four slices of chewy bread, and about a tablespoon and a half of tangy blue cheese, a strong one like Gorgonzola works well, but you can probably substitute anything very creamy and with a little bit of a spicy bite near the end. A few thin slices of apple, a few crunchy leaves of lettuce, such as romaine, a little lime or lime juice, and some good ol' mayo will also serve well in this sandwich. So, here we go:

Chicken breast: cut in half,
sprinkled with lime as cooking

1. Slice the chicken breast in half lengthwise so that you have two equal flat pieces of chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a bit of lime juice for flavor. 
2. Set a frying pan onto medium high heat, and add about a tablespoon of canola oil. Throw in your two pieces of chicken, sear for about two minutes on one side, and then sprinkle with lime juice. Turn them over, cook for another two minutes, and again sprinkle with lime juice. Now, your chicken may or may not be cooked at this point. Use your judgement, touch them with tongs to see if they feel raw or they feel almost cooked. Also, since this is a sandwich, there's no harm removing to a cutting board, and cutting open a piece you think might be cooked at the thickest point. Better to be sure than, you know, die of salmonella poisoning. That's a party killer, right there.
3. Meanwhile, toast up your bread and smear one side of each sandwich's bread slices with the blue cheese. Smear the other side with a bit of mayo.
4. Slice an apple into approximately 1/4" rounds, and arrange your slices on top of the Gorgonzola. Now in comes your chicken breast, and a few leaves of crunchy lettuce, like romaine. Top with the other piece of bread that has the mayo.

Chicken sandwich with Gorgonzola
and apple

This sandwich is chewy and perfectly balanced. One bite, and on the canvas of the earthy, hearty jagdschnitten, you'll find that the tangy, salty blue cheese plays wonderfully with the slices of tart apple. By the way, I most often go with a McIntosh apple, because it's so crunchy, sweet, and a little bit sour itself. But mainly, it just holds its own in any sandwich quite well. Then, of course, you've got the essence of lime bouncing off of the savory chicken breast. Overall, this is a treat of a sandwich, and I encourage you to use strong, flavor-forward cheeses between two slices of bread whenever possible.


INGREDIENT RUNDOWN (for 2 sandwiches):
4 slices jagdschnitten
1 chicken breast, sliced in 2
1 McIntosh apple
4 crispy lettuce leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons of Gorgonzola
lime juice
mayo
salt
pepper