Pesto Chicken Melts; Issue 86- REVIEW

[Gourmet_Mom]

I hate when this happens! I spent all that time and forgot to copy the thing before submitting. OIY! Lets try this again!

Tonight we had the Pesto Chicken Melts and the recommended side of Romaine Salad with Lemon-Cream Salad.

The salad:

This dressing was really tart. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE lemon, but this just seemed to be missing something. Maybe a little more parm and/or sour cream? Some fresh herbs like basil or thyme or parsley? I don't know. I probably won't repeat this one.

The Melt:

Changes:

-I knew I wasn't going to get sun-dried tomato pesto around here unless I made it. But Basil and Parsley are outrageously priced...if you can find it! So I made do. I took some Christopher Ranch Basil Pesto and sent it through the mini coup with some sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. I think it was a perfect solution.

-I had hoped to pick up a rotisserie chicken, but that didn't happen. I made do with chicken breasts and some of my beer-can chicken rub which reminds me of the flavor found on rotisserie chickens.


Recommendations:

-I would like to try this with homemade pesto. And I think it could use a little more pesto in the recipe.

-I'll make it with my beer-can chicken next time. The breast meat contributed to a little dryness in the dish. I would at least use a mixture of white and dark meat.

-I also don't think the first broil was necessary. As a matter of fact, I think it contributed to some of the dryness. I'll just stack the whole thing, including the cheese and broil and serve.

-I forgot one. I made the Crunchy Country French Bread for this, but made it small rolls. Whatever you choose, I would toast it, if I was you. But that's just me.

-More bacon!

-More cheese!

Overall, we gave this an 8, but with the recommendations, I think this could be a ten.

Now for the pictures:

Ready for the first broil:



Ready to eat:

[pjcooks]

Thanks, Daphne, it looks pretty good to me!! Will save your notes.

[luvnit]

Wow, what a wonderful and very thorough review! Great Daphne, I will print this out and keep it with the mag. I do want to make this because it looks just wonderful.

What a bummer you had to type it over again! Been there done that before. Sometimes I just say 'forget it'.

Great suggestion with the pesto-sundried tomato sauce! You are a very creative one. Great review.

[HomeCulinarian]

That looks good to me! Calories are a little high, though.

[cjs]

It does look good, Daphne. 2 T. lemon juice to 1/4 cup sour cream with 1 T. Parm to smooth it out does seem a little tart to me, too.

[Harborwitch]

Thanks for the fantastic review on the chicken. It might be a nice "dinner" for the trip.

On the salad dressing, I think it must be taste - Bob and I loved it. I did add a bit of salt & pepper. Actually we talked about making a jar of it to use over a week, lots of things could be used to change it up at bit.

[Gourmet_Mom]

You know, maybe with a PASTA Salad we might like it. Come to think of it, I was planning to have lemon rice tonight. I MAY just add this to the rice. I hate to waste it.