Pressed Buffalo Chicken Hoagie

Pressed sandwiches are a passion of mine. They're good for lunch or dinner. Good bread is the most important aspect in creating these sandwiches. Often, I'll use a good french or Italian bread to create a pressed panini, but for my buffalo chicken sandwich, I chose to use submarine roll and make a pressed hoagie. The other secret I used in this recipe was my own homemade buffalo sauce based on my spicy sauce (see the end of the recipe for directions on how to make the buffalo sauce from the spicy sauce - you can also substitute your own personal favorite hot sauce). See my pressed hoagie recipe that incorporates blue cheese and roasted chicken below.

 Roasted Chicken

Chicken Tenderloins

1 part Chili Powder

1 part Cumin

1 part Coriander Powder

1 part salt

1/2 part garlic powder

1/2 part oregano

Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the spices with the oil to form a paste (see left). Spread this paste evenly over chicken tenderloins, and put the tenderloins on a baking sheet. Bake the tenderloins for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through. Slice the chicken into long strips. This chicken is tasty enough to eat as is, and it can be used in salads.

Chicken after being rubbed

Sliced Chicken after roasting

After the chicken is fully cooked and sliced, I add it directly into simmering buffalo sauce. This helps to get the buffalo flavor into the chicken.

Pressed Hoagie
I chose a simple submarine roll for this sandwich. I got the role from Price Chopper, whose bread I tend to like. The hoagie-style roll is ultra-soft on the inside and has a nice exterior that is not crusty, but holds up well to saucy fillings. I first lined the hoagie roll with blue cheese, my preferred accompaniment to buffalo sauce. Ranch dressing would go well too. 

 

The next step was to add the chicken. I added lots of sauce too. For my personal taste, I added some hot pickled banana peppers.

 The final step in this process is the press. For this, I use my most reliable and trusted piece of a cookware: my cast-iron griddle pan:

 

Here my pan is shown with a cast iron press as well. You can use anything to apply pressure from the top though (another pan, a foil-covered brick, anything heavy really). I heat this pan up on medium and brush with a little oil, and then put my sandwich on and press with all my might (I like it pressed thin) for about 30 seconds. Then I give it a flip and let it crisp on the other side. The result is a thin, crispy sandwich, with melty cheese oozing out. 

This is so easy to make and it's really delicious. The pressing technique will work for any of your favorite sandwiches, so give a try sometime (if you don't have a cast iron pan, a a Foreman Grill works great too!)!