Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Last week, the butcher only had really small chicken breasts. Instead of buying extra I just stuck with two and figured I’d just make quesadillas or something with them. If you couldn’t tell from my most recent posts, we’ve been eating a lot of Mexican lately. I had some beautiful Indiana grown tomatoes from the farmer’s market that needed to be used as well as some fresh mozzarella in the fridge, so I thought I’d try something new and came up with this sandwich. It’s by no means a novel idea, but it was sooo good and I was quite proud of this. The chicken breasts, which were about a quarter pound each, ended up being the perfect size. And to be quite honest, this would be just as good without the bun.

Chicken Caprese Sandwich

2 small chicken breasts pounded very thin (1/4 inch) and cut in half crosswise
garlic powder
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup your choice grated Italian cheese (I used and recommend Asiago)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
4 thin slices ripe tomato
2 1/4 inch slices of fresh mozzarella
6 basil leaves
2 sandwich buns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Season both sides of chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
2. Combine breadcrumbs and cheese in shallow dish.
3. Heat oil in large oven proof pan over medium high heat. (If you do not have an oven proof pan, you can just use a rimmed baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.)
4. Dip chicken in egg and allow excess to drip off. Then dredge in breadcrumbs.
5. Place chicken in pan and quickly brown both sides of chicken breasts (2 minutes each side).
6. Place one mozzarella slice on two pieces of chicken. Transfer pan to oven and bake just until cheese begins to melt (3-5 minutes). Remove pan from oven (careful – the handle will be hot!)
7. Stack two pieces of chicken, one with mozzarella cheese, on sandwich bun. Top with 2 slices of tomato and 3 basil leaves.