Do not call this an 'Egg McPanini' or I'll kick you in the bum! This panini is a culmination of all the things I craved yesterday and is not my interpretation of a McDonald's breakfast sandwich.
The sandwich consists of fresh herbs, cheese, veggies, and eggs on a strong chewy bread. I used my freshly made ciabatta and it worked perfectly. The sandwich turned out to be a whole basket full of adjectives ... sweet, savory, soft, salty, crispy, crunchy, juicy, creamy, etc.
And, I love that paninis make for such an easy to make meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner! Here's a photo of my chubby sandwich before it hit the grill:
As you can see, the goal is to slice your bread in half, then begin layering in the ingredients. Paninis do require the use of a sturdy European style bread, so don't attempt this with Wonder Bread. Ciabatta is the traditional bread for panini and it does work the best.
When layering the panini ingredients, I only have one main rule. I think of cheese as the melty glue that holds everything together as it cooks. Due to this, I place half the cheese on each slice of bread. After this point, it's a free for all on how you wish to stack it up.
I have a hard time calling a sandwich a 'recipe', so here are the ingredients I used to construct my panini:
Breakfast (or anytime) panini
2 eggs
1 green onion
2 slices bacon, cooked
8 fresh basil leaves
4 cherry tomatoes (or a few tomato slices)
6 slices mozzarella
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
1/4 cup roasted red peppers (in oil)
1/2 cup fresh greens (arugula, sprouts, spinach, etc.)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 4" wide section of ciabatta, sliced horizontally
Salt and pepper to taste
To create the egg omelet, I beat two eggs with a fork and added a chopped green onion. Fry in a skillet until cooked. You can flip it like an omelet or scramble, just try to keep it in a few pieces at most. If you scramble it into small pieces then it will be hard to stack in your panini.
Before closing the sandwich, I sprinkle with salt and pepper, then give a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil - about 1 tablespoon. Slap the two sides of the sandwich together and prepare to grill it up.
The secret here is that you don't need a panini maker. Yes, I have one but let's face it, this isn't rocket science. A panini is a pressed, grilled sandwich. You can place the sandwich in a skillet while using another heavy skillet to place on top of the sandwich while it cooks, you can use a bacon press if you have one, or you can even exert force with the back of your spatula.
I preheated the panini maker, then drizzled the top of the bread with a tablespoon of olive oil before shutting the lid. Sometimes, I sprinkle the top with fresh rosemary or minced garlic before closing the lid. I pressed down for 30 seconds to flatten the panini. Juices that aren't captured by the bread run out and sizzle on the grill -- from the sound, you know it's going to be good. It took about 3-4 minutes to get all melted and crispy. Remove, slice and EAT!
The panini started off as a quick dinner idea last night, but the end result caught me off guard. It tasted so much better than anticipated and that's why I'm writing about it here. The combination of flavors and textures were gratifying after a long day of work. My favorite toppings are the basil (it's a must-have) and the roasted red peppers. These two flavors worked so well with the egg and cheese.
Unfortunately, last night's panini was the last of ciabatta bread. Sad. I need to make a grocery run before I can make any more bread -- maybe, I'll do that tonight, so I can make more paninis!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Do not call my sandwich a 'McPanini'!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Open face panini with provolone & grilled vegetables
In an effort to reduce carbs, I decided to make an open face sandwich. What I really wanted was a big panini layered with cheese and meat on slabs of ciabiatta. What I made was something healthier, but equally good.
I started with my favorite high-fiber whole grain bread from Beckmann's. Their breads are stocked in most grocery stores near other specialty breads and they often have a stand at our local farmer's market. I prefer their German Farm Bread which is round and thinly sliced. It's hearty and toasts up nice and crisp. I love crispy toast, especially when smeared with buter and chopped egg ... we'll save that for another day.
The bread went into toaster while I sliced up some vegetables for the sandwich. Since my plan didn't involve actually grilling the sandwich, I wanted vegetables that could stand up to grilling and opted for zucchini and peppers. The zucchini I sliced thinly and made similar slices of an orange sweet pepper. I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and turned them to coat. I heated my panini maker to the recommended temeprature then laid the vegetables in a single layer. I closed the lid on the grill and let them go until they began to soften and took on grill marks.
After I removed the vegetables, I sliced the ends off of a lemon, then sliced it in half. I placed it into the panini grill to attain grill marks (call it my homage to Bobby Flay). I went to work on assembling the sandwich, placing fresh basil leaves on the toast followed by layers of provolone cheese and the strips of zucchini and peppers. I finished it off with a drizzle of olive oil, black pepper, and a tiny sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I placed it under the broiler for a minute or two to slightly brown the cheese.
I removed the lemon from the panini grill, the natural sugars nicely carmelized. I placed it alongside my sandwich so I could lend a squirt of the juice on top. It turned out perfectly -- crispy toast protected by the basil leaves, slightly soft grilled vegetables tangled with creamy provolone cheese ... with just a kick of the red pepper flakes. Yum - now that my belly is full, I'm tired. Do I have to back to work or can I just take a nap?
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