Culinary Goddess' "Fried" Chicken Sandwich

While I was in college, I was surrounded by amazing food. Berkeley, California might not be the prettiest or safest place in the world but it does have epic food. Chez Panisse, Henry's (hello Angry Mac, yum), Joshuya, Claremont, and Sconehenge among MANY others.

This post is inspired by a little place just on the border of Berkeley and Oakland. From the outside, it doesn't look like anything special. It doesn't even have a sign. However, pass by it around 11-3 and you will find a line that goes around the block. Why? Bakesale Betty. It's Australian take out that is home to the best fried chicken sandwich that I have ever had. There is no where to sit inside but if you're lucky, you can grab a seat at the painted old ironing boards converted into outdoor seating. Inside, a Ford style assembly line keeps the line outside moving pretty fast. Next time you are in town supporting the Bears (Go Bears!) or seeing good friends (wink wink Camilla), head on over to Bakesale Betty!

Alright, so back to tonight's dinner. So this sandwich is huge and delicious....fried chicken on an Acme torpedo roll topped with spicy coleslaw. Living in San Francisco, I can only come up with so many excuses to drive over the Bay Bridge for food before I start to realize how ridiculous that actually is and sounds. Solution? Make my own! Instead of fried chicken, I made baked pistachio crusted chicken. I also found a recipe online for the coleslaw and dressing on Recipezaar.

Holy moly, go make this now. You will not be disappointed. And with that, I present...

Culinary Goddess' "Fried" Chicken Sandwich

Chicken Ingredients:

- 4 cups of unsalted, shelled pistachios

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1/2 tablespoon thyme (dried)

- 1/2 teaspoon oregano (dried)

- 1/2 teaspoon pepper

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add pistachios to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped (resembling bread crumbs).

3. Add thyme, oregano, pepper, and salt to pistachios.

4. In shallow bowl, place chicken in pistachio mixture and press to entirely cover chicken breasts.

5. In a medium skillet, heat up olive oil over medium high heat. Cook chicken 2 minutes on each side.

6. Place chicken in baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

*from Recipezaar

- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 cup of olive oil

Combine mustard, vinegar, and salt. Whisk in olive oil until everything is well blended.

Coleslaw Ingredients:
*Adapted from Recipezaar
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of red wine vinegar
- 2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced and seeded
- 1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, thinly sliced
- dash of salt

1. Let onions soak in red wine vinegar for 20 minutes. Disregard vinegar.
2. Combine onions, peppers, salt, and cabbage.
3. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly covered.

Final Step: Cut up roll. Place chicken on roll and then cover with heaping pile of coleslaw. Enjoy! (Make sure you have tons of napkins on hand, it is extremely messy due to the coleslaw but oh so worth it)