Chicken,Apple, Feta Sandwich on Rosemary Focaccia

 Tonight I was having guests to celebrate my birthday and thought it would be a great time to make a dish for school to try on my guests. When I tried to think of a dish that included "sliced" items, I immediately though of a dish I'd had, that I was dying to make again. I had a meal at a french restaurant years ago that was a fantastic and simple sandwich, and I replicated the recipe to enjoy at home. Simple ingredients and mediocre process, equals a delicious sandwich.

However I couldn't decide what kind of bread to use to make this sandwich with. I decided to make my own. This didn't go so well, but I'll tell you about it a little later on. First let's go over the ingredients.

 1- Large Red Onion
 2T-Olive Oil
 1- 3 oz chicken breast meat
 1- Block of feta cheese (blocked works best, but crumbled would be fine)
 1 Green apple, or in this case Golden Delicious
 2T- Balsamic vinegar

 First, lightly coat the chicken with Olive Oil and Salt, and Pepper. bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning once. This will vary with thickness. Once cooked, slice to make sandwich appropriate thickness to avoid an awkward build.


While the chicken is cooking, slice the onions to make long pieces. Pour the Olive Oil into a sautee pan to heat up, and add the onions when it's sizzling hot. once the onions loosen up a little, add the Balsamic and allow this to cook, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. This will reduce as the onions get softer. In the dish I had at the restaurant, the onions were only lightly sauteed, leaving them with a slight crunch and they were layered on in a full on slice. Due to my bread situation (to follow), and my company coming, appetizer sized pieces of bread lead to my decision to allow the onions to soften fully and make almost a preserve topping.

After the onions are where you want them, remove them from the pan and add in slices of Apple to the pan. I sprayed the pan with coconut oil first, but it probably wasn't necessary so I didn't add it to the list. Cook the apples until they are slightly soft, turning once to lightly brown each side.

When the onions, apples and chicken are cooked, and still warm, place the sliced feta on the bottom bread, followed by the onions and apple, then the chicken and top slice of your chosen bread. This meal hits all of the wonderful taste sensations. It is very satisfying. The onions are slightly sweet, and a hint of vinegar, the chicken and feta satisfy the salty and savory. It was a winner at my gathering!

Now lets talk about the bread fiasco. I tried to make focaccia bread from a recipe I found on Pinterest, or more appropriately from "Gimme Some Oven" a blog written by a woman named Ali. I've made bread before, and I can't say they've ever turned out light and fluffy. I'm sure it's something I've done, or didn't do.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:
3.5 Cups of all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup hot water (110f)
2t sugar or honey (I used honey)
1- 1/4oz package of active-dry yeast
1/4 c Olive oil
2 Sprigs fresh Rosemary
1T Flaked Sea Salt ( I bought this for this recipe and it's wonderful)


First off, the recipe says use a stand mixer, but I didn't, but don't think that's a make or break though...

Mix the water and sugar in a bowl, add yeast to mixture and wait 5-10 minutes for it to foam. This is where things went terribly wrong. I know, right in the beginning. There was no foam in my bowl after 10 minutes. This meant after my flour and oil were added and I formed a ball of dough in a separate, greased dish and left to rise for one hour, it didn't rise one bit.

I followed all the other directions and other than being flat as a cracker, it tasted wonderful, and everybody still ate it. it even looks pretty.

I will try this recipe again, maybe stir in the yeast, I missed that step. Maybe I'll pull out the old trusty stand mixer this time.

I've included the link below in case anybody wants to try it:

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/rosemary-focaccia-bread/