Italian Caprese Chicken Sandwiches with Garlic Aioli

It has been a long time since I shared a tasty recipe with you readers.  I needed a little break for school vacation week and the little break just didn't want to end.  Until now.  I decided it was long over due to share these Italian Caprese Chicken Sandwiches with you.  Remember last year I made mini Italian sandwiches, full of great Italian deli meats and homemade olive muffaletta for our annual Ladies' Tea at church?  This year I stayed true to those Italian flavors but created a new sandwich that everyone loved.  I wanted to make a sandwich using the typical Caprese Salad as the starting point and decided to add thin chicken cutlets and a delicious garlic aioli to finish it off.  TO. DIE. FOR.  Well, maybe not DIE.  How 'bout this - TO. SIGH. FOR.  or TO. SING. FOR.  Anyways, you get the point.  They were delish. 

Italian Caprese Chicken Sandwiches with Garlic Aioli
for the chicken cutlets:
boneless chicken breasts, sliced thin (see this post here on how to cut the chicken into thin slices)
2 eggs, mixed with 1/4 cup milk and S&P
2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
canola and olive oil, for frying
for the Caprese Salad:
fresh mozzarella
vine ripe tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
for the aioli (recipe adapted from allrecipes.com):
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
juice of half a lemon
pinch of salt, pepper
rolls

Directions:
First, make the aioli by mixing together all the ingredients.  Place in fridge until ready to use. 

You may want to make this the day before to really give the flavors times to develop.
Next, make the chicken cutlets.

Slice your chicken into thin pieces (check out this post where I show how to cut the chicken into thin pieces).  FYI, I made two dozen mini sandwiches so there is a lot of every ingredient going on here.  You probably don't need to make as much if you are just making these for your family :)

Mix your eggs with the milk and salt and pepper.

Whisk together well.

Place your bread crumbs in a shallow bowl.  I like to use metal cake pans to make cutlets.

Set up an assembly line with your chicken slices, egg/milk mixture and bread crumbs - ending by the stove.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add canola oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Swirl in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Remember, you aren't deep frying here, just shallow pan frying so you only need enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and just barely come up the sides.  You know your oil is hot enough when you place the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and it sizzles and bubbles around it.

Dip the chicken into the egg/milk mixture.

Next, coat the chicken in the bread crumbs, making sure to cover both sides well.

Place in the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned and cooked through.  They are thin so they should cook fast.

Drain the cutlets on a brown paper bag. It will absorb any extra oil. Sprinkle a little salt right over the cutlets while they are hot.  Continue with remaining cutlets, until they are all breaded and fried. Now set them aside until you are ready to assemble your sandwich.

Now we are going to assemble the Caprese Salad part of the sandwich.  Basically you are just layering the ingredients into little stacks.

Slice the fresh mozzarella into thick rounds, and cut the bigger rounds into halves (if you are making full size sandwiches you may want to leave them big, but mine were for mini sandwiches so I cut the rounds in half).  Do the same with the vine ripe tomatoes and stack the tomato slices on top of the mozzarella.  Place a whole basil leave on top of the tomato.  I love the smell of fresh basil.

Sprinkle a little salt over the stacks and drizzle lightly with olive oil and then with balsamic vinegar.  Now you have Caprese Salad.  This is an awesome summer salad to serve with dinner, but it also goes great in these little sandwiches.

We are ready to assemble!

Liberally spread the garlic aioli on the bottom of the inside of your roll. 

Place a chicken cutlet right over the aioli.

Add a Caprese Salad stack right over the chicken and you got yourself a tasty little sandwich.

My friend Carole and my sister Liz came to my house before the Ladies Tea and I put them to work helping me assemble these sandwiches.  They were awesome kitchen sous chefs :)  And in exchange, I shared a couple little sandwiches with them.  My sister is one of the pickiest eaters I know, so I was really excited she liked the sandwiches so much.

Whenever I bring food to an event I like to make little signs so people know what they taking.

Doesn't that look so yummy?

Enjoy!