The Home Cook: Italian Chicken Panini

/Self Indulgent Plug/

Happy Birthday to me.

/End Self Indulgent Plug/

I don't like sandwiches.

I know, how weird is that. I mean everybody likes sandwiches, or at least it seems that way. There's even a blog called Everybody Likes Sandwiches, alas I guess it's not true. I'm just not a big fan of the ol' bread and lunch meat. There's just something about a cold lump of wiggly sliced meat on either stale or soggy sandwich bread that does not make my heart go pitter-patter. Now there are loop holes here. I love PB&J and hot sandwiches. French Dips, hot ham and cheese, grilled cheese, burgers, hot chicken breast sandwiches and of course panini's. Panini's are like the perfect sandwich, grilled so that the bread is crisp and toasty with soft melted cheeses and warmed chicken or other assorted deli meats. Quite possibly the perfect sandwich. So when I got a gift card to Target I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to get.

May I introduce you to my newest kitchen playmate...the Hamilton-Beach Panini Press. Now, I'm looking at this and seeing a vast sea of warm sandwich potential.This is most certainly a trial run machine, there are a lot of features I wish it had...but in the spirit of learning my cooking preferences, I'm not going to invest $130.00 in my "dream" unit (That comes with interchangeable plates for grilling, panini making and a flat griddle.) until I'm absolutely CERTAIN that it will be something that I'll use regularly. I'm guessing that at $35.00, this unit will die before I get tired of it. IF I get tired of it, which right now? I'm not going to. I can have unlimited hot sandwiches to my heart's desire. In fact our first panini was a traditional favorite of ours (previously we made paninis on our George Foreman) and it turned out 10 times better than it ever had before.

Italian Chicken Panini on Roasted Garlic and Cracked Pepper French Bread

Italian Chicken Panini

2 Chicken Breasts, trimmed
Zesty Italian Dressing
Thin Sliced Genoa Salami
Sliced Provolone Cheese
Sliced Smoked Muenster
Crisp cooked Smoked Bacon
Olive Oil
Bread (We like Challah, Sour Dough, Baguette or Artisan French Bread)

Pound the chicken breasts in between two layers of plastic wrap until they are approximately 1/2" of an inch thick. Place the breasts in a sealed container and cover with Italian dressing, marinade in the refrigerator for at least one hour. After marinading, broil or pan fry the breasts to desired doneness.

While the chicken breasts cook, slice the bread into slices about 3/8" thick. (I like cutting across the diagonal for larger pieces.) Brush the outside of each slice with olive oil, drizzle a little bit of the dressing on the inside of each slice.

To make the sandwich start with bread, dressing side up and layer on a slice of provolone, the bacon, one half to one whole chicken breast (depending on what will fit on your bread.) a slice of munster, a few slices of salami and the top slice of bread dressing side down. Place sandwiches in a press and cook until the bread is golden and the cheese is melted.

I have made this on an older generation George Foreman with good results. You can also pan grill them, but they don't stick together as well and the bread doesn't get as toasted.