Open-Faced Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw

I know, I know.... It's a sandwich. Sometimes I think, however, that if it is open-faced and served with a knife and a fork it is less sandwich-like than something on a bun. Fortunately for me, Mr. Bell seems to think so, too. He rarely makes his "sandwiches again" face with this little trick so I'd appreciate it if you didn't either.

I used to think I hated Buffalo Wings - what with the skin and the bones and all of that, it only makes sense that I'd hate them, right? But my problem with them went far beyond that. It seemed that whenever I'd see the infamous wings, they would be absolutely drowning in neon orange sauce. I told you in this post here about Mr. Bell's insistence on ordering buffalo wings before even sitting down in most restaurants so I knew I'd have to figure out how to make them. I did and he swears they are the best ever. Actually I hate when he says that because that's a lot of pressure. I think for this upcoming football season, he has promised something like 48 people the very best chicken wings in the world made by me.  Now how I'm going to make wings for 48 people is one thing, but chances of them agreeing with him? Probably quite slim.  I'll actually post my recipe, which is so simple it's embarrassing, on Thursday, September 8 as I kick off Football Food Thursdays.

In the meantime, here's a little sandwich that has all the flavor of hot wings with much less of the fat - and none of the bone or skin that I hate....

First of all, I'd like to show you these little beauties.

I love these. Sure they are three times more expensive than regular chicken breasts and sure I could slice or pound the regular breasts into this same thickness. But that's a whole lot of raw chicken handling for me on most days. I'm a wimp. And lazy. So these work for me. Just don't tell Mr. Bell that they cost 8 ridiculous dollars per pound, okay? You are welcome to pound and/or slice the full breasts as a responsible person should or you can skip down irresponsible lazy girl lane with me. It's up to you.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw

Recipe by Michelle's Dinner Bell

1/2 cup Franks Hot Sauce

2 tbs butter

Four chicken breast fillets - you could very easily slice two breasts into four thin fillets

1/2 tsp Garlic salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

4 slices Texas toast bread, buttered and broiled

4 slices pepperjack cheese

For the Broccoli Slaw

1/2 of 10 oz bag of fresh broccoli slaw

2 stalks of celery, sliced

2 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup blue cheese (or ranch) dressing

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Toss together all slaw ingredients and place in refrigerator.

In small pan, combine hot sauce, butter, garlic salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Turn on broiler for bread and broil buttered bread until crisp while chicken is cooking.

In nonstick skillet, heat 1 tbs canola oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook 4 minutes each side or until cooked through. Pour hot sauce mixture over chicken, turning chicken to coat on all sides.

Place sauced chicken on toast and top with slice of cheese. Put back in the broiler for a minute to melt cheese.  

Remove sandwiches and top with broccoli slaw and serve. Yum!