Shredded cooked chicken, mortadella, cheese and lettuce between slices of sandwich bread, pressed until the cheese melts. Four sandwiches in about ten minutes.
Mortadella is the point
Take the mortadella out and this is a chicken and cheese sandwich, which exists everywhere. Leave it in and it is Colombian. Mortadella is a staple of the bakery counter there, and it turns up in sandwiches next to the chicken rather than instead of it.
One slice per sandwich, laid over the shredded chicken and under the cheese.
The bread
Sandwich bread, sliced. The recipe calls for eight slices, which makes four sandwiches with two slices each.
The Spanish for this is pan tajado, and the translation that had been sitting on this page turned it into chopped bread, which is a different and considerably less useful thing to put a sandwich on.
Getting the cheese to melt
A sandwich press does it in a couple of minutes. Without one, a dry skillet over medium heat with a second pan pressing down from above does the same job, and the oven works if you are making several at once.
Whichever you use, keep the heat moderate. High heat browns the bread long before the cheese in the middle has softened, and a sandwich with cold cheese in it is the thing this recipe is trying to avoid.
Butter goes on the outside of the bread if you want a crisp crust. Inside, it just makes the bread damp.
What the assembly looks like
Four slices of bread laid out. On each: a lettuce leaf, a share of the shredded chicken, a slice of mortadella, two slices of cheese, salt and pepper. Close with the remaining four slices and press.
The lettuce goes on the bottom, against the bread, which keeps the bread away from the wetter things above it.
Other quick things
- Hawaiian sandwich — with pineapple and ham.
- Shredded beef — another filling that keeps.
- Chicken quesadillas — same cooked chicken, different vehicle.
- Cheese arepas — what Colombians eat instead of bread.
Chicken Sandwich FAQ
The mortadella. Chicken, cheese and lettuce turn up in sandwiches everywhere; the slice of mortadella alongside the chicken is what places this one, and it is standard in Colombian bakeries and street stands.
Two slices. The list asks for eight slices of cheese and eight of bread, which makes four sandwiches, so two slices each. The old method said one, which left half the cheese unaccounted for.
No. A press is easiest, but an oven works, and so does a dry skillet with a second pan set on top to weigh the sandwich down. The point is pressure and contact with the heat, which melts the cheese before the bread burns.
Not in this recipe. The list asks for a chicken breast already cooked and shredded, which is why the whole thing takes ten minutes. Poach or roast it first, or use whatever is left from another meal.
Tomato, mushrooms, avocado, whatever is in the fridge. The original recipe ended with exactly that suggestion. Anything wet is worth draining first so the bread does not go soft.
On the outside, if you want it to toast. Butter on the inside sits between the bread and the filling and steams it instead.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
- 4 lettuce leaves
- 8 slices sandwich bread
- 4 slices mortadella
- 8 slices cheese (two per sandwich)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Notas
Instructions
- Lay out four slices of bread. On each one put a lettuce leaf, a share of the shredded chicken, a slice of mortadella and two slices of cheese. Season with salt and pepper and close each sandwich with one of the remaining four slices.
- Press them in a sandwich maker, bake them, or brown them in a dry skillet, turning once, until the bread is toasted and the cheese has melted through.
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