Summer Sandwiches

My new favorite sandwich is this chicken, tomato, basil, olive, and goat cheese sandwich I found in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook. I mean really, can there be a better combination of ingredients? A big mouthful, to be sure. And one I keep on craving. So here's to you and your late-spring, early summer cooking...keeping the kitchen somewhat cool and your tummies full. Not to mention the amazing conversations you'll have in the meantime, at the table with good food.

Chicken and Olive Sandwiches

1 slightly soft French baguette (not the hard crispy kind)
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (roll in olive oil and S & P; roast on a baking sheet in 425 oven for 20-25 minutes; wrap in foil after removed from oven to keep moist); slice crosswise in slim slices
3 T. olive oil, for brushing bread
1 smashed garlic clove, for rubbing on bread
4 oz. goat cheese
1/4 cup kalamata olive tapenade (or just chopped pitted kalamata olives)
3 ripe Roma tomatoes (or your favorite), sliced
leaves from 1 small bunch fresh basil
freshly ground pepper

Cut bread on the diagonal in 4 parts, and slice each horizontally. Spread with oil and rub garlic all over. Broil in oven for 2-3 minutes, just until slightly crisp, not browned. Remove from oven. Spread goat cheese on top and bottom of each sandwich, then layer the rest of ingredients on the bottom half of each sandwich as follows: olives, chicken slices, tomatoes, basil leaves, pepper. Repeat. Eat. Repeat. Eat.

*Obviously, this recipe is easy to change to your taste, as I've done. But it's a wonderful palette to start with.