Panini

When we lived in italy the kids and I liked to go to the beach for the morning or afternoon we would stop at the local Alimentari (an old world C-store) and order a panini. It was a long narrow loaf of freshly baked Italian bread filled with ham, cheese and butter. Every little village had an Alimentari,you could buy several different kinds of fresh bread, fresh mozzarella, this was very,very fresh and other cheeses. Also assorted cookies, candies, bulk local wine, bottled water and small tanks of propane for our cooking stove. This was called a "bambala" and it would be delivered to our house in a small red wagon. This was my introduction to panini. Now in later years Panini's have become very popular. About 3 years ago I bought a very nice panini press, it was on sale for a good price, I didn't know if I would use it and was afraid it would end up in the kitchen gadget cupboard never to see daylight again. But I did buy it, brought it home and it didn't work! So my husband (the Count) took it apart and fixed it. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with it a few times, it worked really well and I loved the grooves on the sandwich. Gradually I started adding other ingredients and pretty soon I am making gigantic panini's that only Paul Bunyan could eat. I have learned a few things about making good panini's along the way. Start with a good bread, some options include a good dense Italian bread, sourdough bread and the best of all is homemade bread. I make bread in a bread machine adding bottled garlic and Italian seasoning to the batter. This makes the best panini. Also a good focaccia works well. I like to use a nice balance of strong and mild flavored foods for the panini. Some mild foods are turkey, gouda cheese, mozarella cheese, provolone cheese, swiss cheese, goat cheese. You can jazz up the goat cheesee with fresh basil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. You can make it as mild or as strong as you like. Some of the full flavor foods are cooked bacon, grilled or sauteed peppers, roasted red peppers, pesto mixed with mayo,and sharp cheddar. Fresh basil and mint leaves are a good combination. Any chip or cracker dip works well to zip up the flavor a notch. Fresh mozzarella and fresh basil leaves make a wonderful caprese panini. The sky is the limit. Happy Panini Cooking, thecountess