Buffalo chicken cheesesteak sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 1 pound chicken, sliced and chopped into small pieces
- 10 to 20 mushrooms, sliced (optional)
- 2 to 4 slices of provolone or white cheddar cheese
- 2 to 3 tablespoons butter
- hot sauce (your choice, but Frank's RedHot is traditional)
- 2 six-to-eight-inch-long sub rolls
- celery, sliced into thin slices
- blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles
Directions:
First, you need to slice the raw chicken into very small pieces. The easiest way to do this is to freeze the chicken for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This makes the chicken firm, but not frozen solid. Firming the chicken up allows you to slice it with your knife easier. Slice it into thin slices. You can do this without the freezing step if you're in a hurry, but do your best to get thin pieces so that the chicken cooks quickly.
If you are using mushrooms, add them to a medium pan or griddle over medium heat. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Cook mushrooms for 5 minutes or so until they have become soft and started to release their moisture. Remove mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.
Raise the heat in your pan to medium-high.
If you are using a non-stick pan, double-check to make sure your chicken is chopped up into small pieces before you put it in the pan. If you are using a cast iron pan or griddle you can continue chopping the chicken as it cooks.
Add chicken to the pan, season it with salt and pepper and cook it for 5 to 6 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Using a spatula, you can chop chicken while cooking to break it up more. But just make sure not to scratch and ruin your pan if it has a non-stick coating.
After the chicken has cooked for 5 to 6 minutes, add mushrooms back into the pan and stir in with the chicken.
Grab your slices of provolone and break them up into several smaller slices. Add to the chicken/mushroom mixture and stir everything together so that the provolone is mixed in and starts getting melty.
If you have pre-made buffalo sauce, add it now and stir everything up. If you are using hot sauce and butter: add 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter and as many shakes of hot sauce as you desire to the chicken/mushroom/cheese mixture. Stir everything together a few times to incorporate and get hot sauce all over everything.
Once the butter is fully melted and the sauce is integrated with everything, separate the buffalo chicken mixture in half, one half per sandwich.
Slice your sub roll halfway through, but not all the way. Open it up like a book so it's ready for buffalo chicken and cheese.
Once the cheese seems a bit melty scoop out chicken/mushroom/cheese and scoop into each sub roll.
Add blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles and sprinkle in the sliced celery.
Serve and enjoy.
Notes:
If you want the cheese to melt even further and possibly get some melting on your blue cheese crumbles, wrap each sandwich up in aluminum foil and place in your turned off but still warm pan for a minute or two. This will trap the heat inside the aluminum and allow the cheese to get even more melty and help the sauce to soften the bread a little.