Drunken Chipotle Chicken Parmesan Sandwich
I don’t make a lot of sandwiches that I want to post about. But this is a sandwich I could eat every day. One that I would even serve at a party, especially one revolving around sports viewing or card playing. It’s spicy, beery, cheesy, and totally necessitates several napkins.
I used a beer that seems to be in regular rotation in my "beer cellar" (which is currently the bottom shelf of my fridge). If you live outside the Southern California area, you might not be familiar with the San Diego brewery Greenflash, but it’s hard to ignore this well distributed craft beer in these parts of the world.
Greenflash has an unapologetic love of the hops, wielding the bitterness with brute force. Which suits the hop frenzied California craft beer crowd. I’m a little choosier about my IPA’s than the average Los Angeles beer girl, and Greenflash gets it right when it comes to hopping the hell out of a beer. The Imperial IPA is really solid example of a West Coast IPA, well bittered, notes of pine, citrus, grapefruit, pineapple and a mild malty finish.
All of those flavor notes balance well with the spicy sauce I covered this giant sandwich with. A sandwich that also pairs very well with a nice cold IPA. But be careful, alcohol intensifies heat so that spicy sandwich may end up hotter than you wanted because of that same beer. And, please, get the good bread, none of that hot dog bun nonsense.
Drunken Chipotle Chicken Parmesan Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1 small white onions chopped
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 3 lbs tomatoes beefsteak or heirloom
- 2 clove garlic chopped
- 1 cup IPA
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 large chipotle pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- 5 large basil leaves chopped
- 1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 eggs
- Salt
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
- ¼ cup fresh shredded or fresh grated parmesan cheese plus additional if desired
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 4 crust Italian sandwich rolls split
- 1 ball whole milk mozzarella sliced into 4 slices
Instructions
- In a sauce pan cook the onions in the olive oil over medium high heat until softened. Add the tomatoes, cook until the skins starts to peel, about 5 minutes.
- Ad the garlic, cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the beer and tomato paste. Allow to simmer until most of the tomatoes have broken down, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a large food processor or blender along with the chipotle pepper, basil, salt, smoked paprika and oregano, process until smooth. Taste the sauce at this point, add additional chipotle peppers for a higher heat level, if desired. Sauce can be made up to three days in advance (If the sauce is too watery, return to the stove and simmer until it has reduced and thickened).
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Filet the chicken breasts in half, creating two thin slices per each chicken breast for a total of four, pound to an even thickness using a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin or heavy skillet.
- Pat the chicken dry. Place eggs in a bowl, beat well. Place the flour in a separate bowl. Mix the bread crumbs with the parmesan in a third bowl.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat until shimmery but not smoking.
- Sprinkle chicken with salt on all sides.
- Dredge in the flour shaking off excess.
- Dip in the egg bowl, turning to coat, then dredge in the breadcrumbs until fully coated.
- Fry chicken in hot oil until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes, turn and cook until cooked through (try not to turn the chicken more than once).
- Place rolls on a baking sheet, spoon generous amounts of sauce into the rolls. Cut the chicken fillets in half lengthwise so they better fit into the rolls.
- Fill each roll with chicken, top with mozzarella. Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.
- Cook in a 400 oven until cheese has melted, serve immediately.
Comments
Tieghan May 24, 2013 um 6:58 am
Oh I love this! I love chipotle (the pepper) and this look so good and so fun!
Alayna @ Thyme Bombe May 24, 2013 um 7:06 am
Oh delicious! I’m always up for a fancy sandwich. My husband loves Greenflash too, but I haven’t seen it in Atlanta.
Bev @ Bev Cooks May 24, 2013 um 7:42 am
Oh my Lord.
Kevin @ Closet Cooking May 24, 2013 um 7:47 am
What a tasty looking chicken parmesan sandwich! I really like the IPA and chipotle combo in them!
ashley – baker by nature May 24, 2013 um 10:34 am
Eeeeeep! I love this so, so, so much! My mom always made us chicken parm sammies growing up, and since then they’ve always had a special spot in my <3. I know I'd love this spiced up version!
Cassie May 24, 2013 um 11:12 am
I would love to have this sandwich with an IPA right about now. I love these flavors!
Happy Valley Chow May 24, 2013 um 12:22 pm
Definitely bookmarking and trying this recipe. Sounds spectacular!
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Bree {Skinny Mommy} May 24, 2013 um 7:25 pm
Sounds dreamy!
madscar May 25, 2013 um 2:09 am
Love it! Thanks for recipe 🙂
Min May 25, 2013 um 7:53 am
Yum! What a wonderful way to use chipotle peppers! I’ll have to try this soon 🙂
Rosie @ Blueberry Kitchen May 25, 2013 um 11:42 am
This is such a perfect sounding sandwich, it looks amazing!
claire @ the realistic nutritionist May 28, 2013 um 11:09 am
I’d eat the crap out of this sandwich.
Paul May 28, 2013 um 6:42 pm
Made these over the weekend and they came out fantastic! I had a lot of sauce leftover that I added a little bit of anchovy paste and honey then used it as a sauce for homemade pizzas the next day and it was great for that also! Thanks!
Jackie May 28, 2013 um 9:13 pm
Thank you Paul!
Laurie {Simply Scratch} May 28, 2013 um 9:15 pm
You had me at drunken 😉
Kayur May 31, 2013 um 10:29 pm
Love your site and will definitely try this one. We get Greenflash in Dallas now along with Ballast Point and Firestone Walker. I’m a huge fan of the Southern Cal IPAs so I’m excited to use one of those to make this dish.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com June 2, 2013 um 11:18 pm
Omg. you always create delish sandwiches with a great twist of IPA here. Yum and cheers!