Delicious Panini (Without a Press!)

It is no secret that I am obsessed with paninis.  I crave them almost as often as I crave pasta and if I see it on the menu, I almost always order it.  Even though I am in love with this Italian inspired sandwich, I am sad to admit that I have never made them at home… until now.

I always thought that you needed a press in order to make them properly but I was wrong.  The following is what you can do if, like myself, you do not want to spend the money on a machine that would just clutter your kitchen.  Here is my TWIGS inspired panini:

Panini Without a Press

Ingredients

Bread (Ciabatta, Rosetta and Baguette are known for paninis)

Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic, diced

Half of an Avocado, sliced

Half of a Tomato, sliced

Pesto

1-3 Turkey Slices

Handful of Baby Spinach

1 Red Bell Pepper

Brie Cheese (sliced)

Chicken, cooked and diced

Salt and Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Paprika

Garlic Powder

Bacon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

In a large pan or skillet, heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium-low.  Once heated, add the garlic.  Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning and any other spices you wish.  It’s fun to see what flavors you enjoy so experiment!  I used chicken thighs with the bone in because I think they are the tastiest part of the chicken.  Leaving the bone in while cooking gives it extra flavor.  Place the chicken in the garlic and oil and let it start to cook.

While that begins to cook, dice your red pepper and then combine it with the chicken.  At this point you can start preparing the other ingredients.

Take your bread and spread pesto on both slices.  Place enough spinach on both slices so that they are completely covered.  By putting the spinach as the first layer, you prevent your bread from getting soggy from the other ingredients.  I then layered the slices of tomato, avocado, brie, turkey and scoops of the red pepper from the pan.  You can put as much or as little of the ingredients as you wish, I placed everything on both pieces of the bread.

Be sure to keep an eye on the chicken, while stirring the peppers and the juices.

When the chicken is almost fully cooked, add strips of bacon to the pan.  Allow that to cook on the stove top for a few minutes.  Place the pan in the oven.

After 5-10 minutes, make sure the chicken has no traces of pink and remove it from the pan.  Strip the chicken off of the bone and dice.  Place the chicken and the bacon strips as the last layers on the bread.

Now at this point, your sandwich probably looks huge.  This means, it’s time for the fun part.

With the juices from the pan still warm, place the sandwich back into the pan.

This is when another pot or pan comes in.  Place it on top of the sandwich and push down.  You can use your hands to do this, but I have also seen people place cans or heavy jars in the pot so your hands are free.

I didn’t heat the bottom of the pot I used but I have heard it is an option if you wish to heat both sides of the sandwich at once.  Rather than do that, I just flipped the sandwich over which is much easier to do now that is it a bit flatter.  Keep the pot on the sandwich for about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Remove from the heat, cut the panini diagonally and voila!