Monterrey Chicken - Solo and Sandwiched

Living in Kansas City, known for its barbecue joints, I've had my share of good barbecue sauces, but also my share of bad ones. A little of a good sauce on some well-smoked meat is delicious, but I've learned to steer clear of dishes (at restaurants or at home) that use barbecue sauce as a salad dressing or a condiment on meats that are not grilled or smoked. It seems that many times, sauce used in this way is either inferior from the start, or just doesn't go well with the rest of the dish's ingredients.

This is why I was first surprised that I decided to try this recipe for Monterrey Chicken from The Open Pantry, then even more surprised that I really enjoyed it.

It's such a pretty dish, too, with the red tomatoes, green onions and yellow cheese. (Unfortunately, Kat had a duller, tomato-and-onion-less version.)

I served this chicken Tuesday night with chicken-flavored pasta, lettuce salad and cranberry sauce. I served the leftovers last night as sandwiches on homemade flat breads with shredded lettuce and ranch dressing with homemade creamed corn and tortilla chips as the sides.

The changes I made to the recipe were:

• To cut 4 large chicken breast halves (boneless) in half crosswise, then pound them to about 3/8" thick.
• To use Cavender's Greek Seasoning instead of salt and pepper to season the chicken
• To double the amount of bacon (we love bacon!)
• And to pan fry the chicken pieces in the bacon fat until brown on both sides before transferring them to a baking dish and finishing them off in the oven.

Here is the recipe as I found it (but please click through and check out The Open Pantry).

Monterrey Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 bacon strips, cooked crisp and chopped
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt
Pepper

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and then bake in the oven for about 20 minute at 350 degrees.

Smother the chicken breasts with BBQ Sauce on both sides and return to oven for about 3-5 minutes, until breasts are cooked through.

Evenly top each chicken breast with the crisp bacon and cheese, broil for 30-60 seconds under the broiler to melt the cheese (optional).

Top the chicken breasts with the chopped tomato and green onions. Enjoy!