You don’t really need an expensive panini press to make a great panini sandwich. Here’s how to do it:
Stack two slices of GOOD bread (I used Publix 5 Grain Bread) on top of each other, and butter the outsides. Open the two slices and begin to add your sandwich ingredients. Today I layered these items…
- Thin sliced deli roasted chicken
- Thinly sliced tomatoes (blot with paper towels to remove the liquid so your sandwich won’t be soggy.)
- Fresh basil leaves
- New York white cheddar cheese-sliced
- red onions-thinly sliced
COOKING TIP: If you want your sandwich to “stick together”, make cheese both your first and your last ingredient! That allows the cheese on BOTH pieces of bread to act as a “glue” to hold all of the other ingredients in place.
Place the two sandwich halves back together.
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| One sandwich to finish building…Then off to the skillet! |
Heat a non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and place sandwiches in the skillet. Using the back of your spatula, press each sandwich down and flatten them, holding them down for at least 20-30 seconds. When they are browned on the bottom, flip them over and repeat. You can continue to flip the sandwiches over and over until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are heated through.
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| My pan-grilled panini with sweet potato chips |
So you see…a simple sandwich can be a thing of beauty…and it beats a cold sandwich ANY day!
I used our pizza stone as a weight to keep it nice and pressed! It also made it so some heat could t escape and therefore making the cheese nice. And melty!!
I used our pizza stone as a weight to keep it nice and pressed! It also made it so some heat could t escape and therefore making the cheese nice. And melty!!