I love a good sandwich, which drives Mr. Meat and Potatoes crazy, because he packs sandwiches every day for his lunch. To him, a sandwich is some sort of lunchmeat or bologna, a slice of American cheese and a thick slather of Miracle Whip on white bread. Seriously, am I alone in this, or is Miracle Whip the devil’s spread? I would rather lick my garage floor than eat Miracle Whip in or on anything. And don’t try to pull one over on old Mr. Meat and Potatoes. Last time I bought store brand Whip and was quickly informed that it is not only sub-par, but that it was flat unacceptable. As if Miracle Whip could be made worse. I swear, he must not have been raised right, to think that stuff is edible.

Anyway, I digress. On the weekends, I often like to dream up a good sandwich for a Saturday lunch. My sandwiches have nothing to do with Mr. Meat and Potatoes’ weekday sandwiches. I mean, they are the carat and a half diamond earrings to a silver stud tongue piercing. Not that he has a pierced tongue. But for some reason Mr. Meat and Potatoes is less than thrilled with being served a sandwich on the weekend, even if it is the Heidi Klum of sandwiches, because he eats one every day. Still, I press on, because A.) I like them, and B.) can he not see that these creations have nothing in common with his usual lunch fare? I presume that someday he will grow to understand.

I was thinking about the Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich the other day. It’s one of my little guilty pleasures. But there are things about it I don’t love, and since we rarely eat out anyway, I decided to put together my own version right here in my kitchen. I usually have a bag of frozen chicken thighs in the freezer (we like thighs better than breasts — much more flavorful and less dry) so I got to rummaging around and pulled together what I really have to admit is an improvement on the fast food sandwich. Only, there’s nothing teriyaki about it. Oh well, I was just going for the general idea anyway — a chicken sandwich with onion-y and Asian flavors.

First, I sauteed some onions in butter, soy sauce, sriracha, salt, pepper and minced garlic in a hot skillet until they were almost blackened.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/apr/10/211818/

In the meantime, I whipped up a sauce for the chicken. I made two sandwiches, so I cut up two large chicken thigh pieces, which was more than enough meat to load up the buns.

For the sauce, I stirred together 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 teaspoons Sriracha, 1 teaspoon dried ginger and a teaspoon of sesame oil. I added about 1/4 cup of water, for volume, and whisked it all together, then poured 2/3 of it over the chicken to quickly coat and marinate while the onions continued to cook.

When the onions were done, I moved them to a bowl and set them aside and dropped the chicken into the pan. If you need a little more oil, go ahead and add it. I think I added a tiny bit to make the cooking easier.

Just saute the chicken until it’s done, occasionally pouring on a little more sauce to create a nice glaze over each piece.

Then spread some hoagie rolls with a good smear of butter and toast them under the broiler. You will be tempted to skip this step because you don’t have any softened butter and you don’t like to mess with the broiler because you have a tendency to burn things in there (oh, is that just me?) but don’t. The toasted bread is the key to any good sandwich, in my never-known-to-be-humble opinion.

While the bread toasted, I made a spread. While I detest Miracle Whip, I can stand mayonnaise, but only when it is doctored up with a lot of other delicious stuff — I can’t eat it just plain. Ever.

So I put 1/2 cup mayo in a bowl and added 1 heaping tablespoon of horseradish (I would have used wasabi paste but I was out), a squirt of Sriracha, salt, pepper, a tiny dash of garlic powder and some chopped fresh chives.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/apr/10/211819/

Onto the toasted bread went the chicken, and I drizzled the reserved marinade over it. Then on went the onions, and I sprinkled on a little shredded mozzarella (a slice of provolone might have been better but I didn’t have any), and then popped it back under the broiler for just a minute to melt and get everything nice and warm.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/apr/10/211821/

Then I spread the mayo mix on the other side of the hoagie, and voila, the upgraded sweet onion chicken sandwich was born.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2011/apr/10/211802/

Mr. Meat and Potatoes lapped his up and I think he came in the kitchen after to pick at the leftover pieces of chicken. The next time I make a hot sandwich for lunch he’ll still be a little disappointed, but secretly I know he loves them. I mean, it can’t be chicken fried steak at every meal, right?