An Easy Panini...

Another quick and yummy summer lunch... Bruschetta Panini.


4 ingredients, 5 minutes, 6x more goodness than a plain ol' sandwich...


But don't take my word for it... try it for yourself!

You'll need a cast iron grill pan and a cast iron panini press. And then, honestly, it can't get much easier than this.

Set the heat on the cast iron grill pan on medium-high heat. And then layer your bread with your favorite ingredients. I used pesto, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. First, take two fresh slices of good sourdough bread... and slathered on some pesto.



You can find my preferred pesto at Trader Joe's. (While I'm thinking of it, a shout out to TJ's: THANK YOU for making my life so easy!)



Then I added cheese on both sides ... putting it on both sides helps to hold the sandwich together (like a really yummy glue holding it all together).



Next, I layered the tomatoes on one side...



And that's all...



There's no real need to add butter (as if you'd do on a grilled cheese sandwich)... just place that sandwich in the hot grill pan and put the panini press on top.



Make sure to press down pretty hard on the panini press... (if you don't want to buy a panini press you could always use a garden brick, or two, wrapped in aluminum foil). Paninis are meant to be smushed together... like my technical terminology?



In about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, it will be time to turn the sandwich over to grill the other side. See?



Put the panini press back on and press down hard...



1 1/2 - 2 minutes later... you have an easy panini! I could tell mine was just about ready because I heard some sizzling. The cheese was oozing out of one corner and hitting the hot grill pan... oh yeah, baby!



Hungry?!





So, there's no real recipe here... just an idea. And maybe my idea will inspire you to use your own ingredients. What are YOUR favorite panini ingredients?



enjoy your time in the kitchen...