When thinking about my favorite sandwiches, there are some easy go-to’s: BLT, Grilled Cheese and of course paninis. What’s not to love about a panino? You take some good ingredients and place them on a nice loaf of bread and smash it down into melty, juicy goodness with crispy crusty bread that should be smothered in a delicious sauce. While I didn’t go with my porchetta panino (because my friend still thinks I should open a restaurant based upon that one), I went with some traditional Italian ingredients (pesto, roasted red peppers, arugula, and provolone). I could’ve gone with some nice prosciutto, but I opted for some marinated chicken breasts. If you ever have leftover chicken from a restaurant, this is a good use of leftovers as well. While I didn’t hand make my pesto this time, I whipped it all together in a mini-prep to save some time and it’s perfectly fine for something like this. At the end, all that was left was the age-old debate: slice in half or diagonally. I think with a sandwich of this nature, diagonal is the only way to go.
Grilled Chicken Panini
1 ciabatta loaf
2 grilled chicken breast halves
Small jar of roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
Few thin slices of ripe tomato
Provolone (or mozzarella) cheese
Arugula
Butter
Pesto
~20 basil leaves
Garlic clove, peeled
1-2 tbsp pine nuts
Couple of pinches of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat a panini press. If you don’t have one, heat up a grill pan and have a heavy pot on standby to smash everything down.
Meanwhile, prepare your pesto by placing all but the olive oil into a min-processor and pulverize. Pour in some olive oil and process until smooth and creamy. Season with some salt and black pepper.
Slice open the loaf and spread the pesto all over the interior. Stack the sandwich ingredients starting with roasted red pepper, then the chicken, followed by the tomato, cheese and topping with some arugula. Close the sandwich together.
Smother the exterior of the bread with some butter, cut in half, and place the prepared halves on your panini press or grill pan. Smash and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from the press and slice each half diagonally. Serve with my Italian zoodle salad!
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