Buffalo Chicken Melts

There is a wonderful restaurant near where I live, Mortensen's.  It's a casual establishment that started out as a dairy, then started making  ice cream, and this eventually morphed into a casual restaurant where you seat yourself and only cash is accepted.  They still sell the ice cream they make themselves, with about a bazillion awesome flavors, and the best Ice Cream Sundae known to man- the Peanut Butter Brownie Supreme- a couple (2,3,4- who's counting) huge scoops of whatever ice cream you want (chocolate is my pick), with peanut butter sauce, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry, all on top of a warm brownie.  It is divine.  Someday, when I get an ice cream machine I will attempt to recreate this masterpiece (or I suppose I could just buy chocolate ice cream at the store), but for now I'll stick to the food.  Whenever I go, my food of choice is the buffalo chicken melt.  It's messy but oh so delicious, and so after getting this sandwich too many times to count, I thought to myself... hmmmm.... this is something that should be relatively easy to recreate.  Grilled or sauteed chicken breast with buffalo sauce with Swiss cheese melted on it, on toasted sourdough bread... with lettuce, tomato and mayo, and served with a side of blue cheese dressing.  They serve it with fries on the side- some of the most delicious fries I've ever had.

This is a messy dinner, but I think that's okay sometimes!  Just keep lots of napkins handy.

Buffalo Chicken Melts
Serves 1- infinity (but the hot sauce mixture is good for about 4 sandwiches)


Ingredients:
For chicken:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded thin, or chicken cutlets
Olive Oil
Paprika
Chili Powder
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot (or other cayenne pepper sauce)

For Sandwiches:
Swiss Cheese
Sourdough bread, sliced
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonnaise
Blue Cheese Dressing

Directions:
1. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet (you can use nonstick if you have a working one) over medium-high heat.
2. Season both sides of chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder.
3. Add chicken to skillet.  Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until chicken is done.
4.  Melt butter in microwave (30-45 seconds until melted, but has not exploded- keep a close eye on it!).  Add hot sauce to butter and mix.  It may congeal a little if the butter is way hot and the hot sauce is cold.  That's okay, just put it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, and stir.
5. Add the chicken to the hot sauce mixture, and turn to coat.
6. Heat a nonstick skillet, or griddle over medium heat.
7. Butter each side of your bread, and place one piece butter side down.  Place chicken on bread and then Swiss cheese on top of the chicken.  Cook as you would a grilled cheese sandwich- a couple minutes or so, until brown on one side, then flip and brown the other side.
8. Repeat as many times as you want, depending on how many sandwiches you are making.  On a big griddle you could cook more than one at a time.
9. When done, add desired toppings- lettuce, tomato, mayo, and serve the blue cheese dressing on the side to dip the sandwich to.  Or you could do as my boyfriend does and replace the mayo with blue cheese dressing instead of dipping.

Source: Inspired by Mortensen's Restaurant in Newington, CT, and slightly adapted from Rachael Ray's Hot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Notes:

• So my sandwiches were a little plain as my lettuce went bad, and I used my tomatoes to make Mexican rice, but sometimes being plain is okay, and these sandwiches were more than okay.  My boyfriend, Ron, doesn't like to put any veggies on his sandwich anyway- he says he's through fooling himself about trying to be healthy.
• When seasoning the chicken you can leave out the paprika and chili powder if you want.  It's not necessary as the hot sauce gives plenty of flavor, but I like it because it just kicks the chicken up another notch.
• Make sure you watch your sandwiches as they are grilling closely.  If you walk away and forget about them, they may burn.... not like I know from experience or anything.  P.S. They can be messy to flip, but you'll get the hang of it.
• I think fries on the side are a perfect accompaniment.  I served these with Chipotle sweet potato fries because they are my personal favorite.
• I've been cooking these in a pan because I like the flavor that the toasted butter gives, but you can certainly pop them in the oven once the sandwiches are assembled (minus the veggies and mayo), to melt the cheese instead, and I'm sure they'd be less messy.  If you do this, I'd suggest toasting the bread first, then putting on the chicken and Swiss cheese, and then just putting them in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melty, and then assembling them.