Putting Together an Italian Panini

Rob Carson: Once again, my name is Carson. I am a radio personality, also a gourmet cook. Today, we are making Italian Paninis. Take your lunch up a notch. I have got a nice little Hamilton beach Panini press that I bought online for like $35. They are very inexpensive and they make you look like a professional daily chef. I am going to wait till it's heated up, I am going to take a couple of nice pieces of bread here, I am going to take my olive oil aerator and I am going to pump it up a little bit.

Then I am going to spray what's going to be on the bottom of my Panini, there, you can hear it's hot. Next, I am going to take a couple of slices of tomato, I am going to take a couple of slices of this beautiful basil. Basil is wonderful, just as a leaf, almost like a lettuce on the sandwich which is absolutely terrific, it has a terrific flavor. I have got this nice Turkey I am going to add. You use as much as Turkey as you want. You want a couple of slices of Turkey added fairly thin sliced.

I am going to take a nice piece of prosciutto, this is beautiful stuff. It is going to add a terrific flavor. I am also going to take some of this beautiful basil pesto and I am going to put it on the inside, use as much as you like. You can make your own, you can buy it, I bought this at the store today, but I know how to make them, it's terrific. I am going to put red onion on and you can use as much red onion as you like. I am going to put that on first and then I am going add my provolone cheese because I want the provolone to melt over the onion and hold it in place. Finally, I am going to take my Panini bread with my pesto, put it right there, take my olive oil aerator, I am going to spray a little bit on this top piece, we are ready to press the Panini. It's a good sound.

So with the Panini press you are going to leave it in about five minutes or so, make it as crisp as you would like it. You don't want to overcook it obviously, but you do want your bread to be toasted and not soggy, you don't need to press on it either. All you will do is press the moisture out and make the cheese fell all over the place.

The Panini press is heated so it will just do it on its own. I don't know if you can hear this; that is a Panini and it's almost done and it smells incredible and this is so simple, guys and yet it's going to make you look like you went to a really expensive sandwich shop. Yeah, that Panini is done. It's nice and crisp; just get a spatula, you can obviously serve it on a plate.

I am going take this to my wife for lunch today and what I want to do is I am going to put it in a container that it can breathe. You don't want to wrap this with aluminum foil, you don't want to put it in a plastic bag because the moisture coming off of this that's evaporating will just make it soggy. You want to keep it crisp so put it in a large Tupperware container, let it cool down a little bit, then seal it, then you can microwave it quickly at work. Obviously, I have plated the Panini with some nice pepperchinis which always goes very well. You might try dipping this in a little marinade if you want a little more flavor otherwise, absolutely terrific just like this.