Ham Panini

As many of you know I was away the past two weeks at the home of oldest grandbaby awaiting the arrival of youngest and our third grandbaby (picture here). Now it should be a given when two foodies and a budding foodie get together there is going to be a lot of good food! My husband drove me half-way where we met the kids and stopped in at Red Lobster. Then they took me the rest of the journey to there house much to the delight of oldest grandbaby. So it was two whole weeks of food fun, some of which I will share with you.

Ham Panini

I first posted about panini at Christmas time (here press is a counter top small appliance that grills sandwiches as well as other foods. It has a ridged grill plate on the bottom with a ridged grill plate on the heavy top. Don't confuse a ). The kids have a panini press so I was convinced I needed one but still haven't gone shopping. Anyway, a paninipanini press with a sandwich maker as a panini press has the weight to it that a sandwich maker does not. What is really nice is you can make a lovely panini sandwich without using any butter or margarine so that makes for a lower fat sandwich. At the same time the sandwich is just lovely to look at with the perfectly golden bread accented with grill marks.

We used aged cheddar cheese, ham, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato and red onion. It was a lovely sandwich with a lot of flavour! Just look at those mouthwatering grill marks. Don't you agree it is a lovely sandwich?

I think there are three very important elements to a good panini:

1. oblong bread slices - Oblong slices just give beautiful eye appeal! You really want that because it sets the panini apart from a typical grilled sandwich. I'm rather fond of French bread or sourdough.
2. fresh ingredients - This really is a given! If possible cut any vegetables just before adding to the sandwich.
3. good quality cheese - Honestly good quality cheese is a must! It adds lots of flavour so you can use less to reduce the fat. Some of our favourites are Asiago, Swiss, Aged Cheddar and Fresh mozzarella but even a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese goes a long way.
   

Once you have the ingredients it is as simple as assembling then putting the sandwiches into the pre-heated panini press. Lower the lid, letting the weight press the sandwich while grilling. Remove when the grill marks are golden and well defined.