Chipotle BBQ sandwiches

I don't know about you, but every once in a while I crave the smoky taste of a good barbecue sandwich. Yesterday was one of those days. I was pretty busy -work, teeth cleaning at the dentist, a much needed hair cut- so I didn't get home until almost 9 o'clock. I needed something simple and quick to make. Plus, my local supermarket was offering boneless, skinless chicken breasts at $1.99 a pound... how could I resist the urge to stock up on it? I couldn't, so I stocked up. I also had some potato buns leftover from Sunday's cookout and some red cabbage that -yes, you guessed it- was given to me by the co-op guys. So I made an Iron Chef night out of it and put together these sweet and spicy chicken sandwiches and some spicy slaw (recipe to follow, hopefully today, if not tomorrow.) The chicken, thanks to a kick ass technique learned from Cooking Light magazine, tastes like it has been slow cooked for hours but only needs to be cook for about 15 minutes. Now THAT is what I need when I'm tired and hungry and it's 9 o'clock at night. Don't let the lenght of the recipe fool you -it's easy.

CHIPOTLE BBQ SANDWICHES
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 4 sandwiches:

1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Canola oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
4 sandwich rolls ( I love Martin's Potato Rolls)

Pour a quarter inch of water in a large skillet. Add 1 teaspoon cumin, 4 sliced garlic cloves, and chicken (seasoned with salt and pepper to taste), cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 10 minutes. Drain, discard water and cut chicken across grain into thin slices. Set aside.

Remove 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from can of chiles and set aside. Remove 3 chipotle chiles from can and finely chop and set aside. Whatever chiles and sauce you don't use, store in a tapperware in the fridge, they last forever.

Heat a little bit of oil in the same skillet skillet. Add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and sauté 3 minutes or until just beginning to brown -be careful not to burn it! Add cumin, stir in tomato puree, 2 tablespoons adobo sauce, 3 chopped chipotle chiles, vinegar, honey, Worcestershire, and salt. Add sliced chicken to sauce; simmer for 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

In the meantime, preheat broiler.

Split rolls in half and broil 1 minute or until lightly toasted. Divide chicken mixture evenly among bottom halves of rolls and serve immediately.