Paninis

If you've never had a panini it's better than sliced bread!

We were introduced to them while in London and Jordan LOVED them. A couple of years ago I got him a panini maker for his birthday. One of the best gifts I've ever given him. We use it all the time and I thought I'd share our favorite panini recipe (that we made up). It may be a little out there for some of you so I thought I'd let you know that a regular PB&J sandwich or turkey sandwich is also super yummy in the panini maker too.

In case you don't know what a panini maker I've put a picture below. I'm pretty sure this is a picture of the one we bought. It basically squishes your sandwich and grills on both sides. You could also use a grill pan with something heavy on top like a foil wrapped brick.


Yummiest panini ever:
Ciabatta Roll (we like the little square ones from Costco)
1 Red pepper that's been grilled and the skin taken off
1 Portabello mushroom that's been salt/peppered and grilled on both sides
Mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil (optional)
Pesto (or we've done olive oil too)

Brush the cut sides of the Ciabatta Roll with either olive oil or pesto. Layer the Red Pepper (it needs to lay flat so cut up one side), Portabello mushroom, Basil (optional), mozzarella cheese.

Quick trick for the red pepper. Once you've grilled it and it's pretty black on all sides put in a plastic bag right off the grill and seal it up for 10 min. The steam will make the skin come off super easy. I usually slit up one side, take out the insides and stem and then flip over and take off the skin. Works really well and grilled red peppers are really delicious. They can be expensive so we usually split one between the 2 of us or they were on sale the other day so we each ate one.

Put this in the panini maker until it's crisp. The flavors of the pesto, red pepper, mushroom and cheese blend perfectly together to make one yummy sandwich. We ate this the other day with a simple pasta salad that used up leftover vege's from the fridge. Super easy dinner and really filling. The most suprising part is that we've learned that Matthew likes mushrooms, at least Portabello ones. He surprises me all the time with what he'll actually eat.