Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini. I’d been making panini for my cookbook (I have one more day of cooking left; hurray and burp) and wound up with a bunch of leftover ingredients at the end of the day.
I needed to fix a quick dinner for the kids, so I scanned the kitchen for the ingredients that hold the most broad appeal in my house. Here’s what I came up with: Chicken Bacon Cheese Ranch Dressing For all its simplicity, this panini really turned into something yummy! And if you don’t have a panini maker, don’t fret! Either pound a chicken breast so that it’s a little flatter, or cut a chicken breast in half so that there’s a top and bottom half. Rebecca from Foodie with Family reminded me of this method over the summer, and it’s so much neater than pounding. It doesn’t quite provide the same release for one’s aggressions…but there’s always kickboxing. Fry up the chicken in a little canola oil and butter, then slice them into strips when they’re done. Spread one slice of crusty bread with spicy mustard.
Plenty of chewy bacon… Pressed Picnic Sandwiches. These were made for our Oscar Party that I told you about last week, and I think that they were my favorite thing that we made as a whole.
When I was in high school, I basically lived on sandwiches. They were much more basic than these pressed picnic sandwiches, but they were my favorite thing to eat – I would usually prefer to make myself a sandwich for dinner (or even breakfast) than have what my mom was making. I’m sure that this was frustrating beyond belief, but my mom always kept our fridge stocked with plenty of cold cuts and cheeses so that I could make my beloved sandwiches.
Eventually, I started getting more creative with my sandwiches, and I still love making Kramer a sandwich to bring to work every morning. There’s just something so comforting and simple about a good sandwich, don’t you agree? These pressed picnic sandwiches were inspired by a post that I saw over at The Cilantropist, which is also where I discovered my new favorite pesto recipe. Here they are, pre-pressing. California Sandwich. Tomato sandwiches have owned me this summer.
It started with my mother-in-law’s visit, just before our big Independence Day family reunion. The reunion stretches across two meals, so everyone brings enough food for lunch and dinner. There are two big picnic tables covered in aluminum containers piled high with barbecue, ribs, chicken wings, burgers, hot dogs and brats. But no matter what else people had on their plates this year, no one could resist grabbing one (or two or three) of Elaine’s tomato sandwiches. Crustless rounds of white bread slathered with Duke’s mayonnaise and filled with ruby red slices of summer-ripe tomatoes sprinkled with Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt. Pretty much perfect. But that didn’t stop me from tinkering with them. First, I traded the white bread for whole grain.
And then, it was pretty obvious that my classic Southern party sandwich had gone Californian. Feel free to put your own mark on this sandwich. Perfect for the last few weeks of summer.