Friday, May 11, 2012

How to make a panini without a press

Last Friday night we tried go to Arnie's because Chris was itching for a panini and hey, we had a coupon! Unfortunately, the Arnie's on Leonard isn't reopening until June. So we got subs and Chinese and ate dinner by at Riverside park and walked on the blue bridge, which was a much better option for the boys anyway. It was so fun, we plan on doing it again.

Anyway, when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it.

Chicken and Bacon Panini with Spicy Chipotle Mayo
(From eat-drink-love.com)


For the Spicy Chipotle Mayo:
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (If you don't care for spice, use the sauce, not the pepper, or skip altogether.)
1/2 cup mayo
juice of 1 lime (I forgot this, but it was still delish.)
1/2 tsp. adobo seasoning (I skipped this.)

For the Panini:
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken breast (I used chopped grilled chicken from the freezer)
4 slices of cooked bacon
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tomato, sliced into 4 slices
2 tsp. olive oil
salt
4 slices of bread (I used Italian)
butter

Instructions


For the Spicy Chipotle Mayo
~Mix mayo ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth  (I used my blender.  A food processor would probably work better, but use whatever you have.)

For the Panini
~The original recipe called for roasting the tomatoes in the oven, but I skipped this step.
~Heat your grill pan to medium heat.  I brushed it with a little olive oil.  (I found this cast iron grill pan for 6 bucks at Goodwill!)


~Butter one side of each piece of bread and place bottom slice in the pan.
~Pile on the toppings!  I did it in this order:  chicken, tomatoes, bacon cheese, mayo.


I had another cast iron pan I was going to put on top, but the bottom is nasty so I just used this skillet and pressed down.  Seemed to work pretty well.

~Cook for a few minutes until golden brown and you get some nice grill marks.  I flipped and then used my skillet to press down on the sandwiches.

My husband said this was the best panini he has ever had.  High praise from a man who has quite the discerning palate.  :-)


Oh, and I didn't make these for the boys, they had grilled cheese and were as happy as hogs in mud.





3 comments:

  1. I think you insulted Hogs how happy can they be in the mud?
    Dad V.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks so yummy! I've been trying to think of other ways to use my chipotle peppers/sauce. I think I'll try this!
    lisa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lis, they are so good! We had them for lunch again today. And for your peppers, you can use them in the beef taquitos on ourbestbites.com. Very yummy!

    Dad, hogs might not be happy in mud, but my boys sure are!

    ReplyDelete

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