Chicken Reuben Paninis

Last week we went on our first family camping trip in the Smokies.  We got a lot of "stares" and a lot of "awes" and it seems like it took forever for us to do anything... most likely people were thinking we were crazy camping with an 11 month old and a Golden Retriever.  It was quite the experience.  I'll leave it at that.  

After two days of camping and living off of trail mix and hot dogs, we were ready for a good meal.  And we got one... but I'm not going to talk about that amazing meal... I'm going to talk about my inspiration for this Reuben.  While traveling with a dog, it's hard to go out to restaurants, but take out isn't the greatest either... we took our chance and ordered some sandwiches from a local place in Gatlinburg.  They were really good for take out sandwiches, but the problem with takeout is that it gets soggy.  I wanted to recreate my Chicken Reuben that I ordered and let me tell you... I nailed it.  I think mine was way better.  Nick even said "man if you had a restaurant, you could definitely serve this."  Yeah buddy!  I had really low expectations for this sandwich because normally when I throw things together, they turn out like a bag of garbage on a plate.  But this was amazing.  And it's so versatile, you can adapt it to your taste! I'm definitely making this again.  Soooo delicious and unique!  

Enjoy!

Add caption

Chicken Reuben Paninis

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 large ciabatta rolls

2 cups shredded chicken (I used leftover from a rotisserie chicken)

1 cup of broccoli slaw

2 Tbsp. poppyseed dressing (optional)

3/4 cup thousand island dressing (recipe below)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (use whatever cheese you like!)

Directions: 

Combine broccoli slaw and poppy seed dressing until well mixed.  Add shredded chicken and toss.  Add thousand island dressing and cheese and mix well.  

Scoop out mixture onto sliced ciabatta rolls and spread evenly.  Place in a panini press for 3 minutes or, in my case, use a makeshift panini press... I place the sandwiches on a hot griddle and weigh it down with a cast iron skillet.  After 2-3 minutes, flip sandwiches and grill bottom.  They turn out amazing and I don't have extra panini press clutter in my cupboards!  After you are finished grilling, let cool for a minute and slice.  

Thousand Island Dressing

Makes: 3/4 cup for Reubens

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup mayo

2 Tbsp. ketchup

3 Tbsp. chopped pickle (or 2 Tbsp. relish)

1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together until combined.  Store unused dressing in refrigerator.