Young Cooking

The perfect Sunday morning brunch. I have been dying to find an excuse to use our latest wedding gift, this Le Creuset Flame Round Grill Pan 10″. And the best part - it was a complete success!

There are four basic ingredients that make a good panini:

1. Bread (sliced)
2. Meat
3. Cheese
4. Grease 

My respective ingredients of choice are:

1. Sourdough Bread (we picked it up from the Farmers’ Market this morning)
2. Virginia Sliced Ham (from the Deli)
3. Shredded Mozzarella (leftover from homemade pizza last night)
4. A mixture of melted butter and olive oil

After I select all my ingredients, I assemble my Panini. There is not a right/wrong way to assemble, but here’s a diagram of how I like to do it (yes, I am an engineer):

Once my “raw” panini is assembled I turn the burner on medium-high heat, and let the grill pan get hot. While the pan is heating up, I mix a tablespoon of melted butter with a tablespoon of olive oil. Brush each side of the panini with this mixture (good grill marks + no sticking).

Once the grill is hot I put the panini on, followed by something really heavy ( I went with my Le Creuset 3-1/2-Quart Buffet Casserole ). The weight squishes the panini together, and creates the classic grill marks.

After one side  looks toasty with grill marks, flip it over (and put the weight back on) until the other side matches (about a minute on each side).

Tuh duh! It’s done, wasn’t that easy? And so delicious.

That’s mine on the left, adn my husband’s (on whole wheat bread) to the right.