Teatopia

AI and Mozzarella, Proscuitto, and Fig Preserve Paninis

Is anyone else as psyched as I am about the premier of American Idol tonight? Is it totally wrong that I enjoy laughing at these people who think they can sing? I mean come on! Surely these people have watched previous seasons and know that they are asking for it! Although, I do feel badly for some people who really are that clueless. They come in thinking they have a shot and then they end up crying. I really do feel sad for those people. (See? I'm not that mean).

And now for the delicious paninis James and I made on Sunday night. These came out of this book, which I highly recommend!

I started out by slicing the ciabatta and opening it up. I laid slices of proscuitto ham and fresh mozzarella inside and drizzled a bit or olive oil over it. Then, I brushed olive oil on both outsides of the sandwich and began cooking it in the pan until the bread started to get crisp. I actually used a plate to press down on the sandwich. (Note to self: buy a panini press!) Then, we transfered it to the oven to melt the cheese and toast the bread a bit more. This also would've worked well on our griddle pan with a tin foil tent over it to melt the cheese, but I didn't feel like getting it out!

Next, I let it cool for a few minutes before opening it up and spreading fig preserves on the inside. Then, I put it back together and sliced it into strips. Yummy!

Click below for the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 loaf of ciabatta bread
4 medium mozzarella balls
6 slices of proscuitto ham
1 small jar of fig preserves

Follow the steps described above.

Posted by Hannah at January 17, 2006 07:09 PM