Make This. Make This Today.

Last week I promised you a sandwich, so a sandwich I will give you.

And oh my oh my, what a sandwich it is.

It doesn't really have a name because I made it up (after stealing ideas from a bunch of different recipes), so I'll call it the Gotta Sandwich. Because you gotta make it and then you gotta eat it and then you gotta dream about it until you make it again. Or you could call it something like a Chicken Pesto Panini. But that would be boring.

Here's what it looks like:


(That's a caesar salad in the background, which I personally think made a very nice little sidekick for this sandwich)

Here's what you'll need to make it:

1. Chicken, cooked & cut up into bite-sized pieces
(I used those little boneless chicken tenders & cooked them in a skillet with a little olive oil)
2. Pesto sauce
(I used a dry creamy pesto mix from a packet)
3. Red onions & red bell pepper, sliced & sauteed until tender (I may have thrown in a clove or two of garlic, but I really don't remember. That sounds like something I would do.)
4. Fresh tomato
5. Fresh baby spinach
6. Meunster cheese
(I'm sure other kinds would work fine too, but meunster is soooooo gooooood)
7. Focaccia bread of your choice

And here's how to put it all together:

1. Cut the focaccia into whatever size and shape you'd like your sandwich to be, split it if necessary, and then spread a little mayo on each piece.

2. Toss the cut up chicken pieces into the pesto sauce and give it all a good stir so your chicken is nice & coated. Or drowning, as in my case.

3. Build your sandwich. From the bottom up, I put bread, pesto covered chicken, grilled onions & peppers, fresh tomato & spinach, cheese, and then the top piece of bread.

4. Grill your sandwich until all is melty and wonderful. Some people have fancy panini presses. I personally have a cast iron skillet and a good strong spatula for mashing. I melted a tablespoon or two of butter into my skillet, put in the sandwich, and smashed it down every so often for about 2 minutes. Then I threw in another bit of butter, flipped the sandwich over, scooted it around to distribute the butter, and then smashed it down some more for another few minutes.

5. Eat your sandwich. Receive compliments from your family about your sandwich.

6. Rest contentedly in the fact that, while there are times in life when we must explore the deep and meaningful struggles of the human condition, there are other times when we must explore sandwiches. Especially really really good sandwiches.