Open-Faced Chicken Florentine Sandwich

On Monday, I found myself running errands after work in the Back Bay and I knew that I wouldn't get home until after 8 PM to get started on dinner.  Since B was sick all weekend and sick at home from work that day, I had made lots of different types of soups for him over the weekend for him to re-heat whenever he was hungry.  Since I didn't have to cook for him, I only had to worry about feeding myself.  And to be honest, I was a little pooped from the kitchen from the weekend and really didn't want to make anything too complicated that night.  I had taken a boneless chicken breast out of the freezer in the morning to thaw during the day and hoped that inspiration would find me during the day.  But during the hectic work day, I forgot all about dinner and found myself thinking about it as I ran from stores and appointments in the rain in the Back Bay.

I passed by Au Bon Pain on Boylston Street and saw a gentleman eating a sandwich inside.  Instantly, I knew that I wanted to make a sandwich for dinner.  I wasn't sure if I'd make it back to my neighborhood to pick up some bread at Savenor's before it closed so I ducked inside of Au Bon Pain to see what kind of bread they had to offer.  There wasn't much for me to work with - some bread sticks, not-fresh looking halves of multi-grain baguettes and bagels.  I decided to go for one of their unhealthy but oh-so delicious Asiago cheese bagels.

When I got home, I immediately got to work on my chicken breast.  Since the chicken was thick, I butterflied the chicken and then cut it into strips.  I seasoned it with fresh cracked black pepper, salt and herbs de Provence and put it into a hot skillet with extra virgin olive oil.  Since the chicken was thin and in small pieces, this cut down a lot on the cooking time.

While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up some onion and threw that in a small skillet with some olive oil. I added frozen spinach that had been thawed and drained to the pan and sauteed both together with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  While I love spinach, B is kind of so-so about it.  Thus, I took advantage of this solo meal and used a healthy amount of the sauteed spinach.

When the chicken was done, I put my sandwich together.  I sliced the Asiago cheese bagel in half and topped each half with the spinach and onion mixture and then the slices of cooked chicken.

I topped each half with some shredded mozzarella cheese and crushed red pepper flakes.  Again, B is not a big fan of cheese on sandwiches, especially melted cheese.  For me, the more melted cheese the better so I was very generous in my use of the shredded cheese!

I threw both halves, open faced into the toaster oven at 325 degrees for about eight minutes to melt.

This dinner was superb and minus the Asiago cheese bagel, my open-faced chicken Florentine sandwich was not just delicious but also healthy.  The chicken was moist and full of herb flavor and the melted cheese was ofcourse gooey (in the good way).

My apologies on the dark photography.  Since B was sick, I was on my own with my Canon one-shot, which definitely does not do this sandwich justice.  This was a tasty and quick sandwich using mostly ingredients that I already had on hand.  I'll have to keep this open-faced chicken Florentine sandwich as a stand-by the next time I'm looking for an easy-to-make but satisfying dinner.