Ham and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich and Sheet pan Chicken dinner with a twist

 

 

The recipes I share aren’t based on Google trends of what’s popular, they’re simply what I’ve been cooking for myself over the past week.

 

For instance, I love breakfast but after weeks of scrambled eggs and toast, I wanted something different. This easy take on a Monte Cristo sandwich captures the sweet and salty combination that we all love for breakfast.

 

I also love a roast chicken dinner. This one becomes something special when we drizzle the roasted chicken and vegetables with a tahini yogurt sauce.

 

By the way, don’t throw out the chicken carcass! Remove the meat and place in a covered dish for another use. As I write this, my stripped chicken carcass is simmering in a large pot of water with onion, garlic, carrots, and parsley, to create a delicious chicken stock I’ll use for soup. 

 

The leftover chicken meat will be used for sandwiches, soup, or a chicken pot pie. Stay tuned, I’ll cover that in my next column!

 

Easy Monte Cristo Breakfast Sandwich

This breakfast sandwich is a quick and easy version of a Monte Cristo 

Here are the ingredients for one sandwich. Increase proportionally for additional sandwiches.

 

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 Tablespoon of butter

2 slices of bread (I used challah)

2 slices of ham (I used thin-sliced deli ham)

2 slices of swiss cheese (I used medium sliced swiss cheese)

Maple syrup

 

Directions:

Pre-heat broiler.

Whisk egg on a large plate, dip each slice of bread in the egg, coating both sides.

Melt butter in a frying pan, then fry the bread slices until lightly browned on both sides.

Place bread on sheet pan, add ham and cheese to each slice of bread. 

Place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly. Place bread slices together to form a sandwich, cut in half and drizzle with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

 

 

Sheet Pan Spatchcocked Chicken Dinner with Tahini Yogurt Sauce

This effortless sheet pan roast chicken dinner is elevated with a quick tahini yogurt dressing. It’s easy enough for a weeknight, but special enough to serve for dinner with friends.

 

Ingredients:

1 roasting chicken – cut out backbone and flatten so that chicken lays flat, breast-side up

1 lb fingerling potatoes - cut into quarters and soaked in water for 30 minutes

1 bunch broccolini – ends trimmed

 

2 Tablespoons of butter

¼ cup Extra virgin olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves finely diced

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary leaves

 

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Place spatchcocked chicken and potatoes on a sheet pan.

In a small saucepan, over a medium heat, melt together the butter, oil, rosemary, lime juice, and garlic.

Spoon the garlic butter over the chicken and potatoes. 

Roast the chicken and potatoes for 45 minutes to one hour, until chicken meat is cooked through. Spoon the drippings over the bird 1-2x as it cooks. If you’d like a crisper skin on the chicken, increase the heat to 425F for the last 15 minutes of roasting. 

 

Remove chicken and potatoes to a plate and add the broccolini to the sheet pan, allowing the broccolini to absorb the drippings. Roast for 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn.

 

Drizzle the chicken, potatoes and broccolini with tahini yogurt sauce. 

 

 

Tahini Yogurt sauce

Ingredients:

2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/3 cup tahini

Juice of one lime

2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ teaspoon of garlic powder

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together, thin with a splash of water if too thick.

Drizzle over chicken, potatoes, and broccolini.

It’s also a delicious dip for raw vegetables.