Hawaiian BBQ chicken sandwich with pickled corn

This week's menu

Monday: Hawaiian chicken sandwich with pickled corn
Tuesday: Pork bulgogi ssam with iceberg lettuce, brown rice, ssamjang, and a side of vegetable stir-fry
Wednesday: Shrimp Pad Thai
Thursday: Spanish rice taco salad bowl with beef

Today's sandwich is a twist on the traditional pulled pork sandwich. Instead of pork, the protein of choice is chicken, served with grilled pineapples in addition to the coleslaw. Think of this as the Hawaiian version, and every bit as good as the original! For the side, my coworker found a recipe that I thought was interesting: pickled corn.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Recipe from tideandthyme.com

Cooking time: 1 hour 

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 lb cooked, shredded chicken

1/2 cup barbeque sauce

1/4 cup pineapple juice

4 1/2-inch thick slices of pineapple

4 King's Hawaiian hamburger buns

Coleslaw

2 cups thinly shredded green cabbage

1 cup thinly shredded red cabbage

1 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup greek yogurt

2 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

1. To prepare the coleslaw, whisk together the mayo, yogurt, vinegar, and honey. Add the cabbage and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to evenly mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator for at least one hour.
2. For the chicken, add the barbecue sauce, and pineapple juice in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the shredded chicken and toss to evenly coat. Cover and continue to cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
3. While the chicken is cooking, heat a grill pan over high heat. When the grill starts to smoke, lay the sliced pineapple on top. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until you have grill marks. Flip and cook on the other side. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. To assemble the sandwich, pile the shredded chicken on the lightly toasted buns. Top with the pineapple and coleslaw and top with the other bun. Serve immediately. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 547 calories, 17.1g fat (3.4g saturated, 7.7g polyunsaturated, 4.7g monounsaturated), 56g carbohydrates, 4.4g fiber, 41.2g protein

Pickled Corn

Recipe from bonappetit.com

Cooking time: 4 days

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

6 ears of corn, husked, cut crosswise into about 1 1/2 inch rounds

5 1/2 tbsp kosher salt plus more

10 garlic cloves

2 red chiles (such as jalapeno or Fresno) cut crosswise into thin rounds, seeded

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

Directions

1. Cook corn in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl of ice water. Let cool; drdain.
2. Layer corn, garlic, chiles, and peppercorns in a 4 quart glass or ceramic jar.
3. Stir 5 1/2 tbsp salt and 2 quarts water in a large bowl until salt is dissolved. Pour over corn mixture. Place several plates or small bowls over vegetables to keep them submerged by at least 2 inches. Cover jar with plastic wrap or a lid and let stand in a dark, cool place such as a cellar, closet, or pantry at room temperature (68-70 degrees is ideal) for 4 days to pickles; taste corn. Want more pucker? Let it sit 1-2 more days, then serve or refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 45 calories, .5g fat (0g saturated) 10g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 2g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

The recipe for the pickled corn is a basic pickling recipe consisting of salt and water with some flavorings. 

Before pickling, blanch the corn for 4 minutes.

Once you add all of the ingredients together you will notice that the corn will rise to the top. Because of this, I gave it a stir at least once a day to make sure it is all thoroughly pickled.

You can see the difference in the liquid from before and after the four days. The liquid gets cloudy but the color of the corn doesn't appear to change. 

Meanwhile, for the sandwich, the recipe lists already cooked chicken, but how do you prepare it if you only have raw chicken? You can choose to simple salt and pepper the chicken and grill, broil, poach, or  it or you can do what I did and cook it in the barbeque and pineapple juice. Just combine the pineapple juice with the barbeque sauce in a large pot and add the chicken. Cook on medium heat until it is cooked, firm to the touch, and remove the chicken from the sauce. Shred the meat and add it back to the sauce. When cooking the breasts in the sauce, the inside does not absorb much of the flavor; therefore, you want to shred the meat and coat it again in the sauce. This also prevents the meat from drying out.

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Now for the pineapple. I was thinking to myself how I should core the pineapple while keeping the rings  intact. After you trimmed the outside skin, slice the pineapple into 1/2 inch slices. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the core for each individual slice. You can get about 10 slices per pineapple. 

The pineapple I used wasn't particularly sweet, as you can see from the color. Not to worry if this is your case as well because the sweetness will come out when combined with the other components. 

I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of savory foods with pineapple such as Hawaiian pizza, but this sandwich was a true exception. Tasted separately, the pineapple had a great smoky flavor from the grill. However, with the chicken and coleslaw, more of the sweetness comes out. Hawaiian buns would have been a nice addition; however to be healthier, whole wheat buns were used instead. 

As for the corn, I had mixed reviews. People either really enjoyed it or did not care for it. The kernels really absorbed the liquid and became very juicy after 4 days. The corn wasn't spicy but had a nice tangy, neither salty nor sweet. If you enjoy pickled foods, I urge you to give this a try.