I have always been a big fan of Panera restaurant here in the US. I just love their soups and sandwiches and Paninis. My daughter , specially for me, wanted to make the Panera style vegetable Paninis, and they were par excellence!!!! Panini means a grilled sandwich, with sourdough or ciabatta breads, sliced, with various fillings....
Theses kinds of breads may not be available in India, but we can always make them with the broad sliced breads, available in some special bakeries.Many a times, we feel bored to eat our usual sambar, rasam, koottu etc, but at the same time, do not want to compromise on the intake of vegetables....at such times, this Vegetable Panini is ideal, since a lot of healthy vegetables are stuffed inside.
Ingredients
Sourdough bread - 1 loaf (around 24 slices)
Basil pesto - 1 small bowl
Cream cheese spread - as required
Zucchini - 4, sliced and grilled
Red bell peppers - 2, sliced lengthwise
Onions - 2, sliced lengthwise
Spinach - few leaves
Pitted and sliced olives
Garlic - 6-8 pods, finely chopped (optional)
Cheese slices - 1 for each panini
Any hot, spicy sauce to sprinkle on top, as required
Recipe Cuisine: Continental / Italian; Category: lunch / dinner
Prep time: 20 mts; Cooking time: roughly 5-7 minutes for each panini
Yields 12 paninis
all arranged
Theses kinds of breads may not be available in India, but we can always make them with the broad sliced breads, available in some special bakeries.Many a times, we feel bored to eat our usual sambar, rasam, koottu etc, but at the same time, do not want to compromise on the intake of vegetables....at such times, this Vegetable Panini is ideal, since a lot of healthy vegetables are stuffed inside.
Ingredients
Sourdough bread - 1 loaf (around 24 slices)
Basil pesto - 1 small bowl
Cream cheese spread - as required
Zucchini - 4, sliced and grilled
Red bell peppers - 2, sliced lengthwise
Onions - 2, sliced lengthwise
Spinach - few leaves
Pitted and sliced olives
Garlic - 6-8 pods, finely chopped (optional)
Cheese slices - 1 for each panini
Any hot, spicy sauce to sprinkle on top, as required
Recipe Cuisine: Continental / Italian; Category: lunch / dinner
Prep time: 20 mts; Cooking time: roughly 5-7 minutes for each panini
Yields 12 paninis
all arranged
grilled zucchini slices . we can grill them on a tava, but it will not give these marks on the slices. If you have a grill pan, you can do on that. Or on an electric sandwich maker too, we can have them pressed and make. These slices were made in a panini press.
below picture shows slices being grilled in a panini press
Keep 2 bread slices on a clean plate, apply basil pesto on one side.
apply cream cheese or mayo on the other side. Nowadays, vegan mayonnaise is easily available.
arrange the zucchini slices on one side
layer spinach leaves
keep the sliced red bell peppers, and then.....
the onion slices
keep some olives on top
Keep a cheese slice, sprinkle some hot sauce on top, close the paninis, and place carefully into the panini press.
close the panini press, and grill till done
This post first appeared in www.malpatskitchen.com
Notes
*Garlic is optional. We added some chopped garlic to some paninis, although we all agreed, garlic did not add any extra flavor. .
*If you do not have a panini press, you can make the paninis on a tava or grill pan, but make sure to keep another heavy pan on the bread slices, so that they will get sealed well.
Heaven decended on earth!! Wow!! What a treat to the eyes and tongue. I am a big fan of panini too!! And LO ! I got the right recipe! Chip of the old block! I am referring to your offspring! Fantastic!! yum!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTerrific clicks!! Keep up the good work. I am going to try this recipe this weekend.
ReplyDeleteHi Vidya and Alexandra, thanks a lot for your lovely comments.
ReplyDelete