Rantings of an Amateur Chef

I’ve never been dragged to one of those “parties” where your host tries to sell you things. The granddaddy of these, of course, is the Tupperware party. I have knock-off Tupperware (is Rubbermaid really a knock-off?) and for the most part, my life is complete.

Maybe it is a gender thing, but my wife gets invited to many of these parties. The decision to attend or not attend is not always an easy one. How well do you know the person? Do you really want what they are selling, or not? If you really don’t want something but feel obligated to go, what is the anticipated “exit cost” of buying a low priced item to be nice.  It is all more than I want to think about. Sometimes, however, the stuff is good. Really good.

Quite a while ago my wife went to a party where they were showing cookware from this company that I had never heard of, Pampered Chef. Now the company is very well known, but at the time I hadn’t heard of them. She came home with this large, thin and heavy box. Inside was a round baking stone. My first thought was PIZZA and in the early years of our ownership is was used for mostly pizza, cookies and biscuits.

One of our first entertaining opportunities after getting the stone, my wife made a Chicken Sandwich Ring from a recipe in the booklet that came with the stone. It was awesome. She’s made it through the years and I never tire of it. This was the first time I tried.

A great looking platter for a party.

Not too many ingredients.

Mixing up the dressing.

And the chicken mixture.

Spacing the triangles is important. Too far apart and you don’t have as much room for filling. Too close and you can get a doughy mess.

It looks like the logo from the CBS Sunday Morning show, but much more tasty.

Put the tomatoes in the slots.

Chicken Sandwich Ring

Ingredients:

• 2 packages Crescent Roll Dough – (8 oz. each)
• 1 cup Chicken Breast – cooked & chopped
• 6 slices Bacon, cooked crispy – crumbled
• 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese – shredded
• 1 cup Mayonnaise – (not Miracle Whip)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 1 tablespoon Dried Parsley OR 2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley – chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Green Onions – finely chopped
• 2 medium Roma Tomatoes – or other small tomatoes
• 1 medium Red or Yellow Bell Pepper
• 2 cups Lettuce – shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, mustard, parsley and onion. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix chicken, bacon, 3/4 cup of the cheese and 1/3 cup of the mayonnaise mixture and mix well. Set aside. Open and unroll crescent roll dough, and separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle on a round baking stone (or a greased pizza pan if you do not have a baking stone) with the wide ends of triangles overlapping in the center and points hanging over outside edge, leaving at least a 5-6 inch clear circle in the center of the stone (pan). Spoon chicken mixture evenly onto dough, onto the wide ends of the triangles. Wrap pointed ends of dough around chicken mixture, and tuck under the wide ends of the dough, forming a closed ring with slits around the outside edge, where filling shows through in places. Slice Roma tomatoes into enough wedges to place one wedge in each open slit around the ring.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese. Set aside.

Remove top from bell pepper, and clean out seeds and filaments which are inside. Wash and dry pepper with a paper towel. If needed, slice thin pieces from bottom of pepper to allow it to stand up like a cup or bowl, without wobbling. Fill pepper with mayonnaise mixture, and place in center of sandwich ring, then fill in the space between the pepper and the sandwich ring with the shredded lettuce.

Serve in wedges with the mayonnaise dip. This is a great appetizer, or as an accompaniment with a soup or salad.

Nutritional Info:

314.9 Calories, 33.6 Fat, 5.9 Protein, 2.1 Carb., 28 Chol., 275 Sodium

Source: http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/pampered-chef-recipes/chicken-sandwich-ring.htm