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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 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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