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Panini Produce Sandwiches Vegetarian

Axell Family California Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

    Randy Axelles Grilled California Avocado Sandwich

    Did you know that 90% of the nation’s avocados are hand-grown by farmers in California? Many of the California avocado groves are multi-generational and family operated. Randy Axell is one of those growers. As a third generation avocado grower, Axell and his wife, Joanna, have raised their family on 40 acres of land in Santa Paula, Calif. called Rancho Rodoro. It is named from a combination of Axell’s parents’ names, Ross and Dorothy. Axell feels privileged to have grown up on a farm and to have provided the same opportunity to his children.

    CA Avocado Grower, Randy Axelle

    “I love being able to spend every day on a farm and in the groves. It’s very satisfying to be able to grow something from a tiny seed to a full tree,” explains Axell when asked about his favorite part of being a California avocado grower.

    Randy’s passion for growing California avocados is clear in the quality of his trees and the fruit he harvests each season. His farm is operated to the standards of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification, a program that requires Randy to document everything he does on the farm as well as implement the best possible management practices to aid in preventing food safety issues. He sees these practices as a natural thing to do, to focus on food safety and sell the perfect piece of fruit.

    To view videos of Randy Axell sharing his stories of growing California avocados, visit his page at the California Avocado Commission website.

    Axell Family California Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

    Recipe created by California avocado grower Randy Axell for the California Avocado Commission, used by permission.

    Serves: 4

    Prep Time: 5 minutes; Cook Time: 5 minutes

    Ingredients

    4 slices cheddar cheese
    8 slices whole wheat or honey wheat bread
    1 ripe, fresh California avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced
    1 medium tomato, sliced
    4 slices red onion
    Chili sauce, to taste
    4 slices pepper jack cheese
    Olive oil cooking spray

    Instructions

    On each sandwich, place a slice of cheddar cheese, a layer of avocado, tomato, and onion slices. Add chili sauce to taste. Top with pepper jack cheese, and finish with remaining bread slices.
    Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray skillet with olive oil cooking spray. Place sandwiches in skillet and cook until bread is browned. Turn and cook until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.

    Nutrition Information Per Serving: Calories 350; Total Fat 18 g (Sat 6 g, Trans 0 g, Poly 1.5 g, Mono 6 g); Cholesterol 25 mg; Sodium 610 mg; Total Carbohydrates 33 g; Dietary Fiber 7 g; Protein 19 g;

      Categories
      Breakfast/Brunch Panini Sandwiches Uncategorized

      Scrambled Egg Grilled Cheese with Leeks

        Scrambled Egg Grilled Cheese with Leeks
        Scrambled Egg Grilled Cheese with Leeks

        To help celebrate Grilled Cheese Month and to join in Panini Happy’s Grilled Cheese Pageant and because I just had a craving for a dish like this, I decided to make an indulgent, grilled cheese sandwich filled with scrambled eggs.

          Categories
          Panini Poultry Sandwiches

          Chicken Parmesan Panini

            Chicken Parmesan Panini
            Chicken Parmesan Panini

            For dinner last night, I made baked chicken breasts coated with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese. Since I had leftovers today, I decided to fire up my panini grill. I had fresh mozarella, spinach and mushrooms all on hand, so I figured I’d convert the leftover chicken into a Chicken-Parmesan sandwich.

            First, here’s how to make the chicken breasts. This is an easy, family-friendly, relatively healthy dish:

            Parmesan and Breadcrumb Crusted Chicken Breasts
            Serves 4

            Ingredients

            4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
            1/4 cup milk
            8 Tbsp of bread crumbs
            8 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
            1 tsp salt
            1/2 tsp pepper

            Method

            Preheat oven to 375˚F. Spray small baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour milk onto a plate or into a dredging pan. Mix bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper and pour onto a plate or into a dredging pan (or use a zip lock bag). Dip a chicken in the milk, then dredge in bread crumb mixture and dust off excess. Place breasts in pan and bake for 25 minutes, (flipping halfway through) or until golden brown and opaque all the way through.

            To make the Panini:

            Ingredients

            French baguette
            1 tsp olive oil
            1/2 cup sliced raw mushrooms
            pinch of garlic pepper
            1/4 cup Tomato-basil sauce from a jar
            A smattering of raw baby spinach leaves
            1 chicken breast prepared as above, cut into pieces that fit on your bread
            Thick slices of fresh mozarella (I used 3 – 4 oz)

            Method

            1. Preheat panini press to medium high heat. Heat olive oil is small sautée pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms. Mushrooms should never enter a pan quietly. There should be a sizzle. Sautée until liquid is released and mushrooms are starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

            2. To assemble the panini: Slice bread in half and smear tomato sauce on both halves of the bread. Add a layer of spinach to the bottom. Then lay chicken breast on top of the spinach, the mushrooms on top of the chicken and the mozzarella on top of that. Top with other slice of bread and put sandwich in the panini press. Adjust the temperature so as not to burn the bread while you are heating the sandwich enough for the mozarella to melt. Because the sandwich was so thick, it took 15 minutes for the cheese to melt adequately.

            Tools I used for this dish are available at Amazon.com:

              Categories
              Appetizers Panini Pizza and Pasta Sauces Uncategorized

              The Perfect Ragù alla Bolognese

                Spaghetti alla Bolognese
                Spaghetti alla Bolognese

                Usually for this blog, I document my attempts to make recipes I’ve never tried with ingredients that are new to me. I must confess that I have been working on perfecting a Bolognese sauce for years. I think I’ve finally got it.

                This Bolognese sauce has a secret ingredient that you won’t find in most Bolognese sauces. But we’ll get to that later.

                First a little background.

                For a long time, I was dissatisfied with the results of my Bolognese attempts. The sauces always seemed relatively tasteless and never thick enough. My normal approach was to brown onions and ground beef, add dried herbs (like oregano and such), add a jar of prepared sauce (like Classico) and let it simmer for a long time. I thought that the longer it simmered, the tastier it would be, and that was a little bit true, but not all that much. I tried adding garlic and then adding more and more garlic, to give it flavor. It worked a little, but it seemed that the garlic flavor just disappeared. I tried adding red wine. That worked a little too. I tried adding lots of olive oil once. Again, it enhanced the flavor a bit, but it came at a cost and didn’t give the dramatic flavor I was after.

                  Categories
                  Basics Panini Pork Produce Sauces Uncategorized

                  Pork Chop with Marsala Sauce (Creamy Version)

                    Pork Marsala with Noodles
                    Pork Marsala with Noodles

                    I’m a huge fan of chicken Marsala and veal Marsala, but I’ve got a craving for a pork chop, so I figure “why not try pork Marsala?” At the store, a double thick pork chop catches my eye and once again I think, “Why not?” (read on to find out why not). I’ve never made Marsala sauce before, but I figure it’s a variation on the Fig Sauce I did in September, just with mushrooms and Marsala wine instead of figs and Balsamic vinegar. Let’s see how this one turns out. An ingredients list (of sorts) is at the end of this post.

                      Categories
                      Panini Sandwiches Uncategorized

                      Ham & Cheese Panini with Fig Jam

                        Fig Jam purchased at Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma, CA.
                        Fig Jam purchased at Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma, CA.

                        While Americans often refer to a grilled sandwich as a Panini, when we say “panini,” we’re actually using the Italian word for “small bread rolls” (in the plural). Panino is the singular and “panino imbottito” is the phrase used for “stuffed panino” or sandwich. So this posting should be titled, Panino Imbottito with Ham, Cheese, and Fig Jam,” but I’m not that imbottito with myself (i.e. full of myself). Or am I?

                        After cooking with figs last week, I had a hankering to use the fig jam I purchased awhile back at the Jacuzzi Family Vineyards wine and olive oil tasting center.

                        Fig jam is pretty sweet, so it’s a great counterpoint to the salty, black forest ham that I’m using in this sandwich. If you don’t live near Sonoma, you can purchase fig jam at Amazon.com. I’ve added a link to the right to make it easy to find.

                        Although my husband laughed when I bought yet another cooking gadget, I use this Cuisinart Gridder Gourmet all the time.
                        Although my husband laughed when I bought yet another cooking gadget, I use this Cuisinart Gridder Gourmet all the time.

                        I’m going to be using my Cuisinart Griddler Gourmet which can function as an indoor grill or a panini press or open up into a griddle. You can use a frying pan right on the stove and just put a heavy lid on top of the sandwich. I do love my “griddler gourmet” though and use it a lot more than I thought I would.

                        Great bread is one of the most important components of this sandwich.
                        Great bread is one of the most important components of this sandwich.

                        For this sandwich, I purchased Black Forest Ham. In the US, that term doesn’t mean as much as it does in Europe, where Black Forest Ham is a protected designation and therefore is required to come from the Black Forest in Germany. I know that the ham I’m buying has a spicy, sharp flavor that I like. A Virginia ham, or Smithfield ham would also work well for this sandwich because of its salty and strong flavor, but a honey-cured ham might prove too sweet to pair with fig jam.

                        I’ve also chosen a Jarslberg Cheese. It’s a Norwegian cheese in the Swiss Emmentaler-style family of cheeses. It’s less sharp than Emmentaler, which satisfies my personal taste, while still providing that tangy counterpoint to the other flavors in the sandwich.

                        Ive chosen a La Brea brand French Loaf and spread a generous amount of Fig Jam on it.
                        I've chosen a La Brea brand French Loaf and spread a generous amount of Fig Jam on it.

                        This photo shows the amount of jam I chose to use. The La Brea French loaf is nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Most panini you find in Italian cafés are made with Ciabatta and when made properly, chefs use the whole loaf, splitting it horizontally. The loaf I chose was too big to do that, so I cut slices off of it.

                        The sandwich is ready to go into the grill
                        The sandwich is ready to go into the grill

                        I added some iceberg lettuce to the sandwich because that was what I had on hand. You might choose something with a little more bite, like arugula. (I love that arugula is called Rocket in the UK).

                        Sandwich grilling under medium-high heat
                        Sandwich grilling under medium-high heat

                        I grilled the sandwich under medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. I really wanted the cheese to melt without burning the bread, so I watched the sandwich carefully.

                        The finished sandwich
                        The finished sandwich

                        This was a thoroughly satisfying sandwich. To make it even richer, you can add butter or brush olive oil on the outside of the bread so that it browns even more as it grills. You could also use Salami rather than Ham. This version is a nice, relatively lite (I used low fat Jarlsberg cheese and there is no mayonnaise or aioli) sandwich. Buon Apetite!

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