Chicken Po Boys + Homemade Cajun Aioli

I've never actually been to NOLA but I do love most Cajun-inspired dishes and I always order a po boy sandwich when I see it on a menu. I usually see shrimp or chicken options, but this would honestly be really good with my crispy cauliflower recipe as well if you're a vegetarian!

Seeing that we are going on over a month of Covid-19 quarantine, I had to get creative with what I had on hand at home so don't judge if this isn't exactly the po boy you once ate in Nola. I used some chicken I had in the freezer from Butcher Box and then some fresh steak rolls from my local grocery store's bakery. Traditionally, po boys are served on New Orleans French bread - which is a similar shape but softer than an actual French baguette and very light and airy. I feel like that would probably make a big difference in the overall sandwich quality but the steak roll wasn't too bad.

If you don't want to make the aioli completely from scratch you could just add some Cajun seasoning to some mayo. (Also if you don't have Cajun seasoning it is really easy to make from scratch...just google it.) For aioli shortcuts, I've also done half mayo and half greek yogurt with cajun seasoning to make a healthier option and it's just as good!!

What you need:
For the homemade aioli

• 1 egg
• 1 cup neutral oil - I used vegetable oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tbsp salt

For the rest

• ​Boneless skinless chicken thighs or breast meat
• Flour, garlic powder and seasoned salt (or cajun seasoning in it's place) for the breading 
• A few cups of canola oil for frying the chicken
• New Orleans fresh baked French bread rolls (steak rolls will work too as long as they are soft and sort of flakey)
  
• About 1/2  head of shaved or thinly chopped iceberg lettuce
• Pickles (I used Tony Packos Sweet & Spicy)
• Optional: sliced tomatoes 

What to do:

1. Make the aioli. Add all the ingredients + only 2 tbsp of the cup of oil into a food processor. While blending, slowly pour in the cup of oil - the pour should be a tiny stream and it should take you about a minute to do so. You should notice the aioli forming and things thickening in there. Once the oil is all poured in you can stop blending and turn off the processor. Set the aioli aside until it's time to use later.
2. ​Fry the chicken. Use my boneless wing recipe to prep and fry the chicken, but instead of chicken nugget size pieces, cut them up a bit smaller so they can fit better onto the sandwich. I like to add a tsp of cajun seasoning to the flour batter too in place of the seasoned salt since we're going for Cajun vibes here.
3. Prep your bread by slicing it open - Bryant LOVES his toasted so you could do that here if you want. I usually stick his loaf in the oven under the broiler until the edges of the bread get crispy - just a minute or two.
4. Line the bottom of the bread with a handful of the shaved iceberg lettuce and some pickles. If you are adding tomato slices too those will go on here now as well.
5. Layer the hot fried chicken on top of the veggies and slather the chicken/top half of the sandwich with the cajun aioli before closing it up to eat!